The Boy in the Earth
Fuminori Nakamura
ISBN: 9781616955946
Published: April, 2017
Pricing
Paperback $14.95
More books by Fuminori Nakamura
Description
As an unnamed Tokyo taxi driver works a night shift, picking up fares that offer him glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, he can’t escape his own nihilistic thoughts. Almost without meaning to, he puts himself in harm’s way; he can’t stop daydreaming of suicide, envisioning himself returning to the earth in obsessive fantasie...
As an unnamed Tokyo taxi driver works a night shift, picking up fares that offer him glimpses into the lives of ordinary people, he can’t escape his own nihilistic thoughts. Almost without meaning to, he puts himself in harm’s way; he can’t stop daydreaming of suicide, envisioning himself returning to the earth in obsessive fantasies that soon become terrifying blackout episodes. The truth is, his long-estranged father has tried to reach out to him, triggering a cascade of traumatic memories. As the cab driver wrestles with the grim truth about his past, the history of violence in his childhood among foster families and orphanages, he also confronts his real-world responsibilities—his troubled girlfriend’s blossoming alcoholism and unhappiness over her own sad past.
The Boy in the Earth is a closely told character study that poses a difficult question: Are some lives so damaged they are beyond redemption? Is every child worth trying to save—or are some too ruined by their abusers to ever function in society? A poignant and thought-provoking tour de force.
Media
“This slim, icy, outstanding thriller, reminiscent of Muriel Spark and Patricia Highsmith, should establish Fuminori Nakamura as one of the most interesting Japanese crime novelists at work today.”
—USA Today
“Crime fiction that pushes past the bounds of genre, occupying its own nightmare realm.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Nakamura is known for the dark nihilism of his fiction, but in this contemplation of whether even the most damaged of lives can be saved, there is a final ray of hope.”
–Booklist on Boy in the Earth
“The Zen master, the true Buddha of Noir, is the dark genius that is Fuminori Nakamura.”
–This is Horror
“Told in an intimate first-person narrative, Nakamura’s novel, translated for the first time into English, considers the long-term repercussions of abuse and a life on the fringe of society... this well-written sparse character study in psychological obsession will appeal to readers who like their fiction dark.”
–Library Journal on Boy in the Earth
“The Boy in the Earth offers readers a darkly philosophic musing on violence, history, purpose and what it means to be alive, told in elegant prose.”
–Shelf Awareness
“[Nakamura] has demonstrated time and again, and does so again here, that he is one of the best crime novelist working today.”
–PANK Magazine
“Although many orders of magnitude darker, Nakamura may be the spiritual heir to Kenzaburō Ōe. This is existential literature at its compelling and nauseating best... His work isn’t merely noir as titillation; it’s the hideous truth below the surface, and he is one of the most vital writers at work today in Japan.”