5.0 out of 5 stars
Mishima revisited, May 24 2004
This review is from: The Sound of White Ants: Stories of Modern Japan (Paperback)
Brian Howell has managed to enter the psyche of the Japanese population in a disturbing way. His tales of salarymen and schoolgirls show a Japan that is still in love with death, as it was in Yukio Mishima's work, but now contends with other issues, with modern communication, with female emancipation, with the demands of the company. These new issues add to the strange stresses which in turn evoke peculiar, disturbing and yet strangely beautiful behaviours from Howell's cast. He has a particular talent for the female point of view and 'Cocoon' is a masterpiece of storytelling through the experiences of a young Japanese girl.
An excellent collection; dense, complicated, disturbing and satisfying. Any student of Japan or its culture would benefit from reading these stories.
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