The
Thief, Fuminori
Nakamura (3.5)
This is a
very short, easy to read, introduction to the style of some current Japanese
novelists. The writing reminds me of
Murakami in his mixture of description with an air of haunting melodrama. This is a first person narrative from a
pickpocket in Tokyo who is inalterably drawn into more serious situations with
very scary underworld characters. I think Nakamura-san is smart to use first
person as the reader becomes more sympathetic to the plight of this antihero as
you would normally feel towards a common pickpocket. The main character is thoughtfully portrayed as
good and bad enough to feel very real.
The underlying theme of fate is quite powerfully questioned as we follow
his plight.
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