All She Was Worth

Rating:
Summary: Cultural Gap Almost Bridged
Review: It is extremely interesting to read the customer reviews such as the one which gives this book a low rating because it has "an unsatisfying ending". You will find a review at Amazon.co.jp on the same book saying the exact opposite. The best part of the book, the Japanese reader says, is the ending. The rest of the book is just a prelude. In spite of the favorable rating by most of the reviewers of the English version, these opposing reviews speak more about the book than all the rest. It is a book that almost comes across over the cultural gap. As such, the English version - despite the numerous informative passages - is something of a strip tease as well as a mystery. Don't expect an American novel. This book will not easily fit into a familiar formula.

Rating:
Summary: For all it's worth
Review: Miyabe does not seem to suffer of Hollywood cop envy--very unlike Beat Takeshi in his "violent cop" variations. Miyabe's main character, the temporary disabled policeman Honma, is a very Japanese cop, moving through the pages with calm and precise (pedantic?) police work. The novel is an excellent, moody euro-style mystery in the fashion of Simenon. But there is very little of the "new" japan promised by the back cover. Rather, the co-protagonist is the suffocating bureaucracy of the old Japan.

What bothered me about the book is the similitude with some "educational" Manga -- see for instance Shotaro Ishinomori's work published in the US in Japan inc. . Like in Ishinomori's strip, Miyabe stops the narration of the facts with long digressions about the Japanese economic situation. It's definitely interesting and it's all good, but it considerably slows down the rythm. Possibly the biggest disappointment however has been the fact that the "contemporary Japan" portrayed is actually ancient history: while US edition of the book came out in 1999, the novel is from 1992, and while Japanese economy has been depressed all along, quite a few things have been changing, for instance in the woman condition (see for instance by Japanese Woman by Sumiko Iwao).

Overall nice novel, but why publishing something so dated? I understand Ms. Miyabe has quite a following in her native country, I'm sure starting with more current work might better introduce her to the English language readers.

Rating:
Summary: Japanese culture first-hand
Review: Miyabe Miyuki (the Japanese way, last name first) is a distingushed writer in Japan. She has written dozens of novels, both period pieces and modern stories, such as this one. This is the only novel that I have seen translated into English to date and hope that more of her novels will be translated. Miyabe is the kind of writer I would like more people outside of Japan to read - not those whacky writers like Murakami, Oe, etc.

The story captures some of the timely issues in Japanese society, bad debts, bankruptcy, loss of family values all built into a mysterous tale of a young woman.

I have lent this book to many friends, who had never read a book by a Japanese author and they all enjoyed it tremendously.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but Occasionally Forced and Clumsy
Review: Miyabe's first book in translation is a solid mystery with an engaging investigator, but suffers slightly from an occasionally lecturing tone. The story revolves around a widowed middle-aged Tokyo police detective who's on injury leave when a distant relative asks him to look into the disappearance of his fiancée. This missing persons case soon turns into what we would now call a case of identity theft as the detective delves into the woman's background.

The protagonist, with his dogged determination to uncover the truth, is an engaging world-weary PI familiar to the genre, and yet still enjoyable. His precocious adolescent boy adds a measure of humanity to him, and you know that at some point, the boy will unwittingly say something important to the investigation. The people he interviews, from a personal bankruptcy lawyer, to a mail-order executive, to hostess bar ladies, all have their own motives and personalities which bring the story to life. A mechanic who becomes his assistant is another great character, brimming with humanity.

The story revolves around consumer credit and its corrupting influences on young people-a problem that while still relevant, is hardly likely to be as surprising to the reader as it is to the detective. There are several sections on the book where long lectures on the history and evils of consumer credit, and the mechanisms of personal bankruptcy are explained. These tend to be clumsy and forced, and the story suffers from them. While it's moderately informative to know that Japan shares the problem with the US (and other wealthy nations), it's not nearly as interesting as the other main device of the novel, the family register. The Japanese system of tracking people via family registers is a method unknown in the US, and as the story shows, easily subverted. Unfortunately, this potentially interesting device is rather confusing to the outsider, and some passages may require rereading in order to absorb the procedures involved. Ultimately, these two elements feel very mechanical when contrasted with the excellent characters found in the story itself, and the climax is enervatingly unsatisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Purely spellbinding... you see the downside of a credit-based economy as you've never seen it before, and casts a light on the end-justify-the-means theme. Honma is gritty in his handling of the unofficial case even when his nephew refuses to help him and his investigative powers are limited due to his lack of a badge. As the mystery unravels, you cannot help but wonder what clues he may find next and if he will ever catch the perpetrator...

Rating:
Summary: Simply Absorving.
Review: The book kept me glued from begining to end. Miyabe-san is on her way to one day catch up with the author I consider the most prolific Japanese mistery writter, Mr. Seicho Matzumoto. I strongly recomend it to any person interested in the mistery field. You will not regret it.

A Japanese friend who saw me reading Matzumoto recomended me to buy this book. I did it and he was right. It has certain similarites to Matzumoto's style, which happens to be my favorite Japanese writter.

Not difficult to follow, the main character goes on repeating every discovery and clues each 3 to 4 chapters. Well documented so you can situate yourself inside the book and know where are the train stations in Japan are and how to go almost anywhere there. Very Japanese in style but very western in its script. A consecuence of Globalization I guess.

Rating:
Summary: Complex and Intriguing
Review: This book is an excellent contemporary mystery that grips you at every turn. Although it is really confusing, and the differences between Japanese and American cultures tend to make you go, "what?", it all works out in the end. Unfortunaltley, the ending leaves you wanting more, and so far the author doesn't have anymore translated books that I can find. But this plot is rapid and engrossing, and I would really recommend it. The basic plot is that a woman disappears, and in the search to find her it is discovered that she was impersonating another woman who is also missing. It is a confusing read, but well worth it. If you are looking for a really good mystery, read ALL SHE WAS WORTH!!

Rating:
Summary: This book is complex, absorbing
Review: This book is the kind of book you want to own so that you can re-read it, and do so more than once. The mystery itself is many-layered and never predictable. Beyond the plot, the glimpse into Japanese culture is fascinating. All mystery novels eventually resolve the facts of a crime, but not so many of them manage to explain the human side of it so well as this book does.

Rating:
Summary: A Different Type of Thriller
Review: This complex novel kept me wondering what was going to happen. It was beautfully written and so different from the typical mystery. The characters are all wonderfully engaging. The ending was not shocking nor was it what I expected. I look forward to more of this type of writing

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is one of the books that I have wanted to read for quite some time but for some reason or another have put it off. Well, I have finally read it, and enjoyed every minute of it. To begin with I have never read many mystery novels before, so I did not know how I would respond to this one, but it gripped me very quickly. The story is pretty simple. A detective named honma is taking it easy because he was wounded by a gunshot his nephew soon comes by and asks him to help him find his missing fiance. Bored with sitting at home Honma takes the case, but it soon changes into something completely different than simply a runaway fiance. What he finds involves a case of murder. a murder to steal someone else's identity. He enters the world of Kyoko a beautiful woman whose life had been completely destroyed by her father's financial woes.

Although it seems simple this is actually a complex read. The most complex character is Kyoko: the reader does not know whether to hate her or feel sympathy for her. I don't want to give away any details here. please read the book.