“Okumichi Genji, Daimyo of Akaoka, seems to enjoy being cast into controversies. With an outward appearance of frivolity and also slightly effeminate, the other Great Lords of Japan don’t think too much of him, though the reputation of his family as seers and prophets garner him — to what others view as undeserved — a kind of superstitious respect.
Even his own people doubt his wisdom, for his decisions are usually highly radical. And so, many of them are dismayed but not entirely surprised when Christian missionaries land on Edo, and Genji welcomes them into his palace with open arms. But Genji has his reasons, for he has foreseen that an outsider, arriving in the new year, would save his life. And the future of the Okumichi clan begins to unfold in unexpected ways.
This is an excellent first book. You don’t get very many excellent first novels these days. I thought it was a stand alone book, but it turned out to be the first part in a series. I have very strange luck. I told myself I wasn’t going to get into any new series, but I’ve been wanting this book for a year — and it exceeded my expectations (probably because I was expecting a great but slightly boring plot but instead got a GREAT and EXCITING plot).
Cloud of Sparrows is a Japanese fantasy of sorts, set some time after the landing of the Black Ships and dealing mostly with Japan’s struggle from a bloody, archaic, and highly ritualistic xenophobic country to what it would eventually become. It describes the time when the Japanese, so attached to their pasts, faced a bleak future because of their hesitation to progress, coupled with their automatic distrust and disdain of all things foreign. Interspersed with “quotes” from the Okumichi prophetic scrolls, the Suzume no Kumo (the novel’s namesake), Sparrows offers us an insight into the basic, stereotypical Japanese mindset in that era as well as their lifestyle then. It shows us the world of geishas and samurais and daimyos waging wars over minor grudges kept alive for centuries. It seems like far too large a scope, but instead of being a dragging pseudo-historical chronicle, Matsuoka creates a novel that is very personal.
First of all, the backdrop, the setting, is extremely detailed. Matsuoka shows us so many things about Tokugawa Japan by letting us enter the very lives of Genji and his samurai, a perfect microcosm of the entire country. The characters are shown in a very human manner, are consistent, and just plain interesting. Every one of them has specific roles, idiosyncracies, and sharp, unshakeable mindsets. Unlike many novels these days which tend to pull their characters this way and that to make the story move, the characters in Sparrows simply go about their daily lives, unwittingly dragging the plot along behind them, which then unfolds smoothly and easily.
The story is extremely well-written aside from having such a page-turning, action-packed, and original plot. There’s intrigue, betrayal, murder, revenge, and love. It is humorous for most of the time (Genji deserves my worship for having such a sarcastic flair), but utterly serious when it has to be. The language is absolute poetry and beauty. A must-read for every fan of Japanese culture — and even those that are not.
However, the novel is a bit tragic and quite a lot of characters get killed off. So don’t read it if you want your stories starting with “Once upon a time,” and ending with “happily ever after.””
daimira wrote this review Wednesday, March 19 2008.
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