 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
- Mystery - |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Floating Girl |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Floating Girl by Sujata Massey HarperCollins 320 pages, May 2000 ISBN 0060192291 Reviewed by Maria Y. Lima In the underworld of old Japan, the Floating Girls were courtesans, living in the Floating World – an unreal, dream world where reality does not intrude on a person’s fantasy. In the modern day Japan of Rei Shimura, underground fan groups of young people live hidden lives reading, writing about and becoming hero characters featured in manga, the popular adult-style Japanese animation comics – a kind of ultimate fandom. Rei, who is supplementing her income by writing for the Gaijin Times, a magazine geared towards foreigners in Japan, is assigned to write an article about a particularly talented manga fan artist. As she tries to track down the apparently missing young man, she realizes that there is more to this story than what shows on the surface. And after a murder, she realizes that perhaps even the yakuza are involved. Putting herself in grave danger, Rei is determined to find out the truth, no matter the cost. Once again, Sujata Massey creates the world of modern Japan so that even a gaijin (foreigner) can understand it. Seen through the eyes of her popular heroine, Rei Shimura, who is American born and raised, Japan is shown to us in tantalizing bits & pieces – just like the complex and well-written story of THE FLOATING GIRL. Massey takes an already interesting plot, spruces it up even more with excellent characters and throws in a few twists along the way to keep us reading. This latest novel in a brilliant series proves why Sujata Massey keeps getting nominated for awards. Don’t miss it. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||