Helpful Score: 2
Not my usual sort of novel, but I always really enjoy Cruz Smith's writing... the Arkady Renko books hooked me, I have to admit!
December 6 (published as Tokyo Station in the UK) is a historical novel focusing on a wheeler-dealer type, Harry Niles, in Tokyo in the days leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war between Japan and the US. Harry is the son of American missionaries, but, neglected by them as a child, he has always, culturally, felt more Japanese. But in a Japan that is increasingly more hostile toward gaijin, he is torn between the two - with both a Japanese mistress and a British one, conflicting political loyalties... and as well, a conflict between his risk-running, gambling nature, and the desire to save his own skin...
There's some spy action, samurai violence, betrayals and loyalty, plenty of drama - excellent characterization, but the setting really made the book, with its vivid depiction of an unusual, transitory and fragile time in Japan...
December 6 (published as Tokyo Station in the UK) is a historical novel focusing on a wheeler-dealer type, Harry Niles, in Tokyo in the days leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war between Japan and the US. Harry is the son of American missionaries, but, neglected by them as a child, he has always, culturally, felt more Japanese. But in a Japan that is increasingly more hostile toward gaijin, he is torn between the two - with both a Japanese mistress and a British one, conflicting political loyalties... and as well, a conflict between his risk-running, gambling nature, and the desire to save his own skin...
There's some spy action, samurai violence, betrayals and loyalty, plenty of drama - excellent characterization, but the setting really made the book, with its vivid depiction of an unusual, transitory and fragile time in Japan...
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