Lonely Hearts Killer
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Tomoyuki Hoshino
Since his literary debut in 1997, Tomoyuki Hoshino has published twelve books on subjects ranging from “terrorism” to queer/trans community formations; from the exploitation of migrant workers to journalistic ethics; and from the Japanese emperor system to neoliberalism. He is also well known in Japan for his nonfiction essays on politics, society, the arts, and sports, particularly soccer. He maintains a website and blog at http://www.hoshinot.jp/.
Related to Lonely Hearts Killer
Related ebooks
Lonely Hearts Killer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Study Guide for Haruki Murakami's "Toni Takitani" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Devil's Disciple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Longer Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outnation: A Search for the Soul of Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBig Breasts and Wide Hips: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Artist of the Floating World: Plot Analysis and Characters: A Guide to Kazuo Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKwaidan Japanese Ghost Stories and Insect Studies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Curious Tale of Mandogi's Ghost Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Autobiography of Osugi Sakae Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grass For My Pillow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At the Sharpe End Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTeach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: 4 Short Novels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Yukio Mishima's "Swadding Clothes" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor Dignity, Justice, and Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChairman Mao Would Not Be Amused: Fiction from Today's China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Love Dollars and Other Stories of China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDictator's Way: A Bobby Owen Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeeting with My Brother: A Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Will not forget both laughter and tears Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeasts Head for Home: A Novel Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Useless Knowledge about Anime and Manga: Amazing facts about manga art, anime trends and otaku culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Shoot Horses, Don't They? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Militant Zionist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Harmless Power: The Life and Times of the Ukrainian Anarchist Nestor Makhno Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Bridge of Words: Views across America and Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Noise of Typewriters: Remembering Journalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Modern Japan: In Search of a Nation: 1850 to the Present Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Philip Roth: The Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Betrayal: The Memoir of a World War II Japanese American Draft Resister of Conscience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Coming of Age Fiction For You
Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Likely Story: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Ugly and Wonderful Things: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If We Were Villains: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The People We Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kitchen House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The St. Ambrose School for Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cider House Rules Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Saint X: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Missing Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Half Moon: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Prodigal Summer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A River Enchanted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moonshiner's Daughter: A Southern Coming-of-Age Saga of Family and Loyalty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Lonely Hearts Killer
6 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After reading Tomoyuki Hoshino's collection of short fiction We, the Children of Cats, I knew that I wanted to read more of his work. And so I turned to the novel Lonely Hearts Killer, Hoshino's first and currently only other volume available in English. Lonely Hearts Killer was originally published in Japan in 2004, making it a later work than most of the stories collected in We, the Children of Cats. Adrienne Carey Hurley's translation of Lonely Hearts Killer was released in 2009. She initially had a difficult time finding a publisher for the novel. However, like We, the Children of Cats, Lonely Hearts Killer was ultimately released by PM Press under its Found in Translation imprint. Because We, the Children of Cats left such a huge impression on me, I was especially curious to read a long-form work by Hoshino.When a young and popular emperor unexpectedly dies with only his sister to succeed him, the country is left stunned and directionless. Some people are so affected by his death that they are "spirited away," a phenomenon which leaves them in a near catatonic state. Shōji Inoue is not one of those people. A young and privileged experimental filmmaker living off his parents, he is fascinated by society's reaction to the emperor's death. When he learns that Mikoto, the boyfriend of Iroha--a former classmate, fellow filmmaker, and friend--is among the group of people to have suffered a breakdown, he is intensely curious. But Inoue and Mikoto's meeting triggers an even greater tragedy and Iroha is left behind to deal with the aftermath. Years later Iroha is working at a remote lodge owned by her friend Mokuren, away from the prying eyes of the mass media which blames her in part for the epidemic of suicides and murders that have swept the country. At the same time, the mass media is one of her only remaining ties to the rest of the world.Lonely Hearts Killer is told in three parts by three different narrators, each building on and critiquing those that precede them. "The Sea of Tranquility" is seen from Inoue's perspective, "The Love Suicide Era" is Iroha's response, and Mokuren's commentary concludes the novel in "Subida Al Cielo." Each chapter leads further away from the initial incident in both time and association while simultaneously providing more information about it and capturing the escalation of fear and death. Lonely Hearts Killer is a chronicle of the end of an era; the world is turned upside down and society's values are inverted. The novel can be both disconcerting and disorienting. People become so consumed by a culture of fear that they come to rely and depend on it. Any challenge to the system is seen as dangerous and the media's role in its perpetuation is largely ignored by the general population. Things become so twisted around and perverted that it is those who would try to refuse to participate in the violence around them who are deemed abnormal and deviants by society at large.In addition to the novel itself, the English edition of Lonely Hearts Killer also includes an introduction by the translator and a newly written preface by the author as well as a question and answer session between the two. I found this material to be particularly valuable in putting the work into a greater context. The death of an emperor and the demise of the emperor system is a rare topic in Japanese literature. Lonely Hearts Killer is a very political work although much of its message is left up to the readers' individual interpretations. The novel has the potential for multiple analyses, including both anarchist and pacifist readings. I personally appreciate this ambiguity; it's one of the reasons that I find Hoshino's work as a whole to be so interesting. As I've come to expect, Hoshino's writing requires active engagement and thought on the part of his readers. The novel isn't particularly easy reading, but the ideas, concepts, and themes that Hoshino deals with in Lonely Hearts Killer are incredibly unsettling, intriguing, and fascinating.Experiments in Manga