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The End of the Moment We Had
The End of the Moment We Had | Toshiki Okada
4 posts | 5 read | 3 to read
Two brilliant, multi-layered stories from the winner of the Kenzaburo Oe Prize: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing In two stunning tales by novelist-playwright Toshiki Okada, characters stagger and thrash, bound by a generational hunger for human connection. On the eve of the Iraq War a couple find unexpected deliverance - fleeting and anonymous - at a love hotel. And wheels spin as a woman aches for something more from her husband, even as she knows she has enough. Snapshots of moments high and low, these stories introduce us to an unsettlingly honest voice in contemporary Japanese fiction. Toshiki Okada is a hugely admired playwright, director and novelist. Born in Yokohama in 1973, he formed the theatre company "chelfitsch" in 1997. Since then he has written and directed all of the company's productions, practising a distinctive methodology for creating plays, and has come to be known for his use of hyper-colloquial Japanese and unique choreography. His play Five Days in March, on which the first story in The End of the Moment We Had is based, won the prestigious Kishida Drama Award. His works have been translated into many languages around the world.
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review
BarbaraBB
BarbaraBB
The End of the Moment We Had | Toshiki Okada
post image
Mehso-so

One of my new year‘s resolutions is to read a Japanese novel each month. This is my first and it wasn‘t great.
It‘s two short stories. The first is about a couple having sex for 4 days in a so called Love Hotel on the brink of the Iraq War. That one is pretty good although I don‘t get it completely.
The second is about a woman who stays in bed for a whole day, thinking of her home and her husband. That one I didn‘t get at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

lauraisntwilder I read this in 2020, but I apparently never posted about it on Litsty. I gave it a lukewarm rating on StoryGraph at the time. However, I vividly remembered it when I read your review, so it must've made an impression. 3w
squirrelbrain Hopefully the next ones will be better! 3w
tpixie Double check, but I think this was Japanese I really enjoyed it
[tagged book]The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel
3w
See All 7 Comments
BarbaraBB @lauraisntwilder I can imagine that it‘ll have a lasting impression indeed, which is an accomplishment as we both didn‘t like it that much! 3w
BarbaraBB @tpixie Thanks! I read that one and indeed, I LOVED it! 3w
BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain I‘m sure they will be😊 (edited) 3w
tpixie @BarbaraBB 🩵🩵🩵 3w
68 likes7 comments
blurb
BarbaraBB
BarbaraBB
The End of the Moment We Had | Toshiki Okada
post image

#WeeklyForecast 01/25

I am reading Wolf at the Table, which I am enjoying. Next will be the tagged book. In 2025 I want to read at least one Japanese book a month.
And because I am still off work I hope I‘ll find the time to start the Rooney, a good beginning of the new year I hope!

AmyG I just started Intermezzo on audio. Seems to be a well-liked book. 🤞🏻 3w
Ruthiella I also like to start the new year off with a positive reading experience ! 3w
sarahbarnes I love the Japanese novel goal! 3w
See All 13 Comments
squirrelbrain I started Intermezzo on audio @amyg but it didn‘t work for me (not the book, more that I struggled to hear the narrator over road noise 🤷‍♀️). I saw it was half-price on Amazon *and* I had a voucher, so guess what arrived today?! ☺️ 3w
BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes I always love them so much, I thought I should read them more regularly 🤓 3w
sarahbarnes I feel the same way! 3w
BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes I know! I just replied to your #Top24Of24… we‘re real book 👯 twins!! 3w
sarahbarnes Truly! ♥️ 👯‍♀️ I just put a hold on this one at the library after seeing the review from @Night_Reader
[tagged book]The Woman in the Purple Skirt: A Novel
3w
Suet624 I think you‘ll like the experience of reading Intermezzo. 3w
BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes That‘s a nice one! 3w
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I‘ve saved it a bit because I have such high expectations! 3w
Cathythoughts I loved Intermezzo ❤️ 3w
BarbaraBB @Cathythoughts That‘s why I have such high expectations, because you did and @Suet624 and @sarahbarnes ! 3w
65 likes13 comments
quote
Lexica10
Lexica10
The End of the Moment We Had | Toshiki Okada
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There was a split second when she saw the music seeping out of the space between earbud and ear like a curl of steam or smoke.

3 likes1 stack add
review
batsy
batsy
The End of the Moment We Had | Toshiki Okada
post image
Mehso-so

This is novella-length, made up of two stories. The first is about two people who meet in Tokyo & spend several days in a love hotel & the second is about a beleaguered wife descending into a spiral of ennui & depression. Both written in stream of consciousness, the first one was affecting; how two people try to create & sustain an extraordinary moment outside of daily reality. The second needed an interesting 1st person voice but it lacked that.

batsy The first story is a pick, the second a so-so. I wasn't sure how to rate this! I think maybe the second story was influenced by Clarice Lispector's The Passion According to G.H. I haven't read the Lispector book but I know that a cockroach is involved. So in this story about a woman contemplating her life, I was waiting for a cockroach to show up. And it did! Unfortunately the cockroach came too late. (Never thought I'd say that.) 7y
saresmoore Hahaha! I think I could muster enough personal experience to write that second story, cockroach included. Meanwhile, your review of a different book has made me want to read Lispector‘s “plotless” novel. (edited) 7y
batsy @saresmoore Yours is the story I want to read!! And ooh, which Lispector novel? 7y
See All 6 Comments
saresmoore Sorry, I mean the one you mentioned: The Passion According to G.H. The blurb called it plotless and something about that makes me really want to read it! That and cockroach death. 🙃 7y
batsy @saresmoore Ah, OK! That's the very reason I'm interested in reading it too. Though a tad nervous about the cockroach 😆 I recommend her short stories for sure. You can dip in and out of them for a years... They're stories, they're prose poems, so strange and unique.
[tagged book]The Complete Stories
7y
saresmoore Thank you! I actually own a digital copy of them—hooray! 7y
80 likes6 comments