The Last Children of Tokyo - Yoko Tawada

"...he had assumed the goal of medicine was to keep bodies alive forever, he had never considered the pain of not being able to die."

⭐

As far as I can see this book has received bountiful high praise, so I suppose that I hold the unpopular opinion in that I really don't like it. For something with only one hundred and thirty something pages it took me forever to get through, and I found myself desperate to get to the end, not from excitement but anticipated relief that it would finally be over.

An ecological disaster has turned the world upside down. The older generations are going strong into their 100's, but the young are born frail and die early. Japan has become an isolationist country, and infrastructure and agriculture have regressed. Yoshiro is already past 100 and is considered one of Japan's 'old-elderly'. His life is dedicated to caring for his great-grandson Mumei, who is very sick and may not live to see adulthood. Every day Yoshiro does everything he can to keep the boy alive, but he has a guilt hanging over his head knowing that Mumei will never know what the world was like before everything changed.

Before I unburden myself of the things that forced me to give this book such a poor rating, it is only fair to note the honourable mentions that made it more bearable. Much like my last review, once again I have accidentally managed to stumble onto something that bears more than a passing resemblance to the crazy Covid world we are living in now. The isolationist Japan of Tawada's novella doesn't seem like a far cry from the present climate of closed international borders, and Brexit based concerns regarding trade routes and deals. Tawada's dystopian future mentions a total ban on immigration, as well as suggesting a privatised police force which although terrifying, doesn't feel like an impossibility in the not too distant future. I also enjoyed Tawada's use of language throughout the book, she emphasises how language can help to shape a culture, and manages to express Yoshiro's guilt beautifully but this still doesn't save the book in my opinion.

(SPOILER ALERT!)

Firstly I think the blurb is highly misleading. I was intrigued by the idea of a secret organisation using children to find a cure for the new generation's frailty, but this barely features until the last 30 pages or so, and even then it is more of a a carrot dangled in front of your face, or an extra walking through the back of a scene, than an integral part of the book. This was really disappointing, and as a result of this it is a book that doesn't feel like it is going anywhere. It felt like a slog to get through it.

I have said before that fantasy and sci-fi are not really my cup of tea, but I'm trying to broaden my range. I went in with an open mind, but the ending of this novella was just kind of ridiculous and crazy to me in terms of the language and imagery used. It seemed disconnected to everything that went before it, and left me thinking 'really?!?'

I am glad that I bought this, and ventured outside of my comfort zone but this is the first book in a long time that I really didn't enjoy. I know that my opinion is in the minority, and there will be people who entirely disagree with me and adore it. To those people I ask; please let me know why, what is it that I missed?

H x