- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Random House Canada (Jan 11 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679313478
- ISBN-13: 978-0679313472
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,051,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Thoughtful, sensitive exploration of contemporary Japanese culture."
—Kirkus Reviews
"This travel diary reads like a scintillating novella, and Carey has, in fact, added his own fictional embellishments to the real-life events he reports. . . . Carey’s fluid and engaging writing style gets a boost from 25 energetic b&w anime/manga illustrations."
—Publishers Weekly
"Curious and affecting. . . . physically diminutive but emotionally huge. . . . Wrong About Japan reads like a literary version of Sophia Coppola’s film Lost in Translation, minus the melancholy and stylish soundtrack."
—The Scotsman
"Carey describes the father-son relationship with great dexterity and open-eyed tenderness. . . . The mysteries of Japan and father-son relationships prove to be rich subjects, especially for a writer at the peak of his powers, and they make for an entertaining and uplifting book. . . . The result is neither memoir nor travel book, but one of those hybrids that can so easily go wrong, but that here goes life-affirmingly right."
—The Sunday Times
—Kirkus Reviews
"This travel diary reads like a scintillating novella, and Carey has, in fact, added his own fictional embellishments to the real-life events he reports. . . . Carey’s fluid and engaging writing style gets a boost from 25 energetic b&w anime/manga illustrations."
—Publishers Weekly
"Curious and affecting. . . . physically diminutive but emotionally huge. . . . Wrong About Japan reads like a literary version of Sophia Coppola’s film Lost in Translation, minus the melancholy and stylish soundtrack."
—The Scotsman
"Carey describes the father-son relationship with great dexterity and open-eyed tenderness. . . . The mysteries of Japan and father-son relationships prove to be rich subjects, especially for a writer at the peak of his powers, and they make for an entertaining and uplifting book. . . . The result is neither memoir nor travel book, but one of those hybrids that can so easily go wrong, but that here goes life-affirmingly right."
—The Sunday Times
Book Description
Previous winner of two Booker Prizes, Peter Carey expands his extraordinary achievement with each new novel — but now gives us something entirely different.
When famously shy Charley Carey becomes obsessed with Japanese manga and anime, Peter is not only delighted for his son, but entranced himself. Thus, with a father sharing his twelve-year-old’s exotic comic books, begins a journey that will lead them both to Tokyo, where a strange Japanese boy will become both their guide and judge. The visitors quickly plunge deep into the lanes of Shitimachi — into the “weird stuff” of modern Japan — meeting manga artists and anime directors, “visualists” who painstakingly impersonate cartoons, and solitary “otakus” who lead a computerized existence. What emerges from these encounters is a pithy, far-ranging study of history and culture both high and low — from samurai to salaryman, from kabuki theatre to the post-war robot craze. Peter Carey’s observations are provocative, even though his hosts often point out, politely, that he is wrong about Japan. In adventures that are comic, surprising, and ultimately moving, father and son cope with and learn from each other in a place far from home.
“No Real Japan,” said Charley. “You’ve got to promise. No temples. No museums.”
“What could we do?”
“We could buy cool manga.”
“There’ll be no English translations.”
“I don’t care. I’d eat raw fish.”
—excerpt from Wrong About Japan
When famously shy Charley Carey becomes obsessed with Japanese manga and anime, Peter is not only delighted for his son, but entranced himself. Thus, with a father sharing his twelve-year-old’s exotic comic books, begins a journey that will lead them both to Tokyo, where a strange Japanese boy will become both their guide and judge. The visitors quickly plunge deep into the lanes of Shitimachi — into the “weird stuff” of modern Japan — meeting manga artists and anime directors, “visualists” who painstakingly impersonate cartoons, and solitary “otakus” who lead a computerized existence. What emerges from these encounters is a pithy, far-ranging study of history and culture both high and low — from samurai to salaryman, from kabuki theatre to the post-war robot craze. Peter Carey’s observations are provocative, even though his hosts often point out, politely, that he is wrong about Japan. In adventures that are comic, surprising, and ultimately moving, father and son cope with and learn from each other in a place far from home.
“No Real Japan,” said Charley. “You’ve got to promise. No temples. No museums.”
“What could we do?”
“We could buy cool manga.”
“There’ll be no English translations.”
“I don’t care. I’d eat raw fish.”
—excerpt from Wrong About Japan
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Still wrong about Japan,
By
This review is from: Wrong About Japan (Hardcover)
I agree with both previous reviewers in that this is not a book for those not familiar with or interested in manga, anime or their precursors.Naturally we all have different interpretations of what we see, hear and read. Some look for and find deeper meanings in the simplest of things while others see a cigar as a cigar. While I do think that Mr. Carey likely did come across as just another gaijin with a few hours to spare compartmentalizing segments of Japanese culture, I can also appreciate the seeming unwillingness of his interviewees to articulate the subtler points of broader Japanese thought and experience (lived there and married into it). This, of course, is not exclusive to any culture and I've certainly lost patience on more than one occasion and retreated to "that's just the way in Canada/North America". Overall the book is an easy, short read which is not all that surprising as it covers a week's worth of travel and was likely written in a month or less.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Embarrassingly bad,
By
This review is from: Wrong About Japan (Hardcover)
Peter Carey writes fantastic, best-selling novels, and has been doing so for a long time now. What this means is that he can get anything he writes published. And when authors get to the point where they can publish anything they write, they start to write and publish really bad books. Wrong About Japan is dull on the one hand and irritating on the other. I'm really not interested in knowing so much about what Carey and his bratty son like in terms of movies and manga. I also didn't enjoy finding out what a pretentious jerk Carey is (all those meetings in which he tries to show his Japanese hosts he knows something + the way he kept spurning Takashi). I'll never get back the few hours I wasted on this bad book. It's not worth the paper it's printed on.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fun Trifle,
By
This review is from: Wrong About Japan (Hardcover)
Peter Carey is incapable of writing a bad book, and "Wrong About Japan" is proof of that.This is by no means a good travel book - instead it is a dryly humorous look at a very limited part of Japanese Culture. So, if you don't have any interest in Manga, Anime or Japanese ceremonial swords , and you aren't a fan of Carey's crisp, flawless prose, than stay away. If you are interested in any of those things and are in the mood for a good light read, than pick up this book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Asia > Japan
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Popular Culture
- Books > Reference > Writing > Travel
- Books > Travel > Asia > Japan
- Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Travel Writing
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
