Somersault: A Novel [Paperback]

"Somersault" by Kenzoburo Oe is an unusual novel for my own reading habits, though one that has a lot of appeal. Being interested in religion and spirituality, I was curious to see what he had to offer and say.

The novel follows a few characters, but they are all quickly joined together in the midst of the beginning of the Church of the New Man. Patron, the church's founder and leader, spent 10 years alone with his religious partner Guide, after they had done a "Somersault" and had claimed their old movement was all a big joke. The rise of a radical faction within that old movement prompted this dramatic event. It is the regathering of old followers and new that occupies much of the narrative of the book.

The book is filled with long dialogues and monologues, as characters' struggles and understandings of the Somersault, themselves, Patron, faith and God are all covered in this way. This means that monologues can run for a couple of pages as characters relate their pasts, their hopes, or Patron deals with his view of events.

It has been commented that the book lacks detail with the teaching of the movements. While the detail is rather sparse, there is enough content given to form some understanding of the main points of the church's doctrine and teaching. This develops through the book, a good example being the nature of Patron. The theme of repentance, renunciation of the world, trust in Patron, visions, prayer and so on are all there. The use of Biblical texts and some others are also there. For some more theologically minded readers, maybe more detail would have been nice, but the book certainly does not suffer for the lack of it.

Oe has dealt with a lot of different themes, and different ones will stand out to different people. Perhaps one that stuck with me was the nature of faith, and how it develops with various events and under differing external stimuli. Patrons 10 years of isolation were interpretted by the Quiet Women and others as his descent into hell, something Patron himself took up. The understanding of Patron's as somehow sacred also comes into view among different followers and their discussions.

Permeating the entire story is the Somersault like some shadow, and different groups' responses to it and the new movement come in for some heavy discussion among the various characters. The Technicians, the Quiet Women, Patron, Dancer, Ikuo, Kizu and others all have their own take on it.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, and had a great time reading it. It is a thought provoking look into a religious movement that could be termed a cult, and the way in which people understand and develop their faith according to different events. Oe keeps things moving relatively well, and does not get bogged down in useless detail.

The characterisations are remarkably detailed, I found. They all had very distinctive personalities and idiosyncracies, which made them all the more life-like.

For something a bit different, "Somersault" is a fine read and a good story. Enjoyable to the last, I have to say that I recommend it to any who enjoy the themes that it deals with.

A Personal Matter continues to be a favorite of this avid reader. Oe

decided to try something new and it just doesn't work. In exploring

values, beliefs he almost drills in some pretty boring characters. I

never put down a book partly read but this one was tempting.

Gad, a grind...Oe's strength is his play on words, come back master!

I just finished reading Somersault. Several interesting themes emerge.

First, on a sociological level, it seems that Oe is fascinated, even obsessed, by groups. Almost all of the characters belong to a group: the Quiet Women, the Technicians, the office staff, the Fireflies. Even the quasi-individualistic Kizu is first and foremost generically "a professor." Characters in this novel are always strongly identified with the group to which they belong. Strong individuals such as Gii emerge as leaders of a group. Is this emphasis on groups a Japanese thing, or is it uniquely Oe?

Keeping in the sociological theme, I think Oe paints Japanese society as chock full of forbearance. All the characters tolerated each other and tried to understand why all of the other characters did what they did. They all helped each other and were thoughtful to each other's needs. Nobody was mean-spirited. Even the strong-willed characters Gii and Ikuo were, at heart, incredibly nice people. Dancer was very polite throughout. Kizu was a kindly old professor. Ogi, the Innocent Youth, is the archetype example of niceness. Even the folks who tortured Guide were quickly forgiven. Is this emphasis on polite behavior, too, a Japanese or an Oe-centric thing?

On the deeper, religious level I think it was always Oe's intent to leave the religious message from Patron deliberately ambiguous. In fact, the ambiguity of spiritualism is the take-home message of the novel.

How is this manifested in the book? Well, the vast majority of the principal players: Ogi, Dancer, Kizu, Gii, Guide himself, have no real religious conviction and are just drawn into Patron's inner circle via his cult of personality or (in the cases of Gii and Kizu) for ulterior reasons. Patron himself found his own mystical experiences incredibly ambiguous. Ikuo, a truly religious and earnest man, was not able to properly define his relationship with God, either, and this caused him tremendous stress.

The last page of the novel reveals Oe's core belief, but I don't want to give the game away. Let's just say that, if you believe in a traditional God, you might find yourself shaken to the core.

There is an exciting conclusion if you can muster up the patience to get there. There is a dramatic exchange in which Patron and Ikuo do the father-son thing, and another interesting scene where 25 women go potty together. But you have to perservere to the mid page-500's before you get those rewards.

The relation between Kizu and Ikuo is well-developed. I love the way Oe left the role of Dancer in this relationship ambiguous until the end. The relationship between Gii and Ikuo is also fascinating, and at the end, Oe foreshadows that some very turbulent times are still to come between these two strong-willed characters.

The book is as much an existential philosophical treatise as it is a novel. It also offers an important sociological perspective on modern-day Japan.

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