Rating: 
Summary: A disturbing portrait of an empty soul
Review: This is a painful and eerie book that leaves the reader with a permanent sense of unease. It is a book without heroes or villains. It's impossible to cheer for Bird, the main character, since he has no redeeming qualities, and yet in an odd way it's very difficult to condemn him either. On the surface it would seem easy to do so. He is an alcoholic and an adulterer. He is perpetually looking for the easy way out of his problems. And he shows no fatherly love when he discovers that his son has been born with a drain defect. Instead, he attempts to escape by absorbing himself completely in a far-fetched dream to journey through Africa, and by doing everything possible to ensure the speedy death of his son.
Bird is really more pitiful than loathsome. His utter lack of humanity and responsibility make him difficult to relate to on a human-to-human level. The lingering impression that I have of him after finishing the book is one of a pathetic animal, not a human being worthy of human emotions.
Perhaps Oe has tapped into that deep, dark place in the human soul where our worst demons hide. It's a scary picture, one that most of us probably don't like to look at.
Rating: 
Summary: Running away and coming back
Review: This was an outstanding book. Everytime I read one of Kenzaburo Oe's books i fell like my brain is being peeled layer after layer util all that is left is the darkness that i don't want others to see. This book is about a man nicknamed Bird. Bird is a teacher at a cram school and dreams of escaping his mundane life in Japan and escape to Africa, but his dreams of escape seem to be nothing more than pipe dreams because his wife is about to have a baby.Bird wants to run away from his marriage and fatherhood, but after he discovers that his baby has a brain hernia he really wants to escape the life that has been dealt out to him. So instead of comforting his wife, who is not informed of the baby's condition, Bird runs off to an old girlfriend named Himiko who spends her days in bed and her nights speeding around Tokyo in a sports car, sleeping around with several different men. Many would want to condem Bird immediately, but many of those have never faced the situation that Bird has before him, myself included. This book makes one question oneself what would they feel if they were presented with this situation. I honestly can't say, but I believe that I would towards the way Bird is...
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