So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: Yoko Ogawa 小川洋子

Yoko Ogawa (小川洋子 OGAWA Yoko) is a strange woman. Most novelists are really eccentric but she is seemingly a sophisticated lady. Her face is always serene when I see her on TV programs or magazines. For some reason or other, her novels aren't serene at all. There is poison behind romantic settings.

Pregnancy Diary brought her recognition in 1990. It's the story of two young sisters. The big sister becomes pregnant, then the little sister starts to have bad intentions. The big sister who has a nervous disposition broods with ups and downs specific to a pregnant woman.

The annoyed little sister recalls that the grapefruit from United States includes a material that destroys the chromosome. It's small dairy knowledge she get by any chance. She buys grapefruit imported from United States and makes jam out of them. The big sister who regains appetite after morning sickness eats it delightedly. Because, pregnant woman often wants something sour. The little sister makes and makes, the big sister eats and eats. The little sister tries to dream of the growth situation of the baby but she cannot. She can image only damaged chromosome......

Pregnancy Diary in the following book. I like The Diving Pool, Pregnancy Diary, Dormitory in her early works. The Diving Pool, the translated version, contains all three of them.

The Diving Pool: Three Novellas
Yoko Ogawa Stephen Snyder

Picador 2008-01-22
Sales Rank : 88688
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Some disabled person appears in the novels of Yoko Ogawa. The disabled person accepts his or her situation and lives quietly. He or she is so quiet that he or she looks like a spirit who has a body. Her novels show that body is connected to living. As well, the depiction of eating often appears in her novels. Even if we have to harm our body in order to keep living, we cannot abandon our body. Imprisoned body expands to imprisoned love.

Yoko Ogawa seems to be popular in France. The Ring Finger (薬指の標本 L'annulaire) was made into a movie by French director. I think Hotel Iris are the stories of imprisoned body and love. Two of these are a bit more erotic than other Yoko Ogawa's works.