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Loading... Dreaming Pachinko (edition 2003)by Isaac Adamson
Work InformationDreaming Pachinko by Isaac Adamson
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. -Tokyo 2001: Hard-boiled reporter Billy Chaka is back, He is interviewing a has-been pop singer turned pachinko fanatic for Youth in Asia Magazine. Looks like an easy assignment until he witnesses a beautiful young woman suffer a seizure in the Lucky Benten pachinko hall. When she is later found dead below an expressway, Chaka becomes embroiled in an apparent blackmail plot involving a Ministry of Construction official, a brash nineteen-year old girl, a shadowy entity known only as Mr. Bojangles and four silent figures who have a penchant for showing up uninvited inside Chaka’s hotel room. As the bodies pile up and the mystery deepens, Chaka must untangle the lies, obsessions, and seemingly supernatural events that link the dead woman to a forgotten, bloody incident from the desperate closing days of WWII. This was a better 2nd attempt from Adamson though still not great. His knowledge of Japan is obvious, though he does show his cultural familiarity less in this book. He seems to have done some research into history as well, which is what lifts the book. His protagonist is still a bore and the premise and background of that protagonist is absurd as ever. Some Japan fatigue, familiar to anyone non-Japanese that has lived there, appears in the writing, adding a new level of depth previously not found. Not a keeper but encouraging. I took this book up to our cabin in 2009 to read, but the events of life saw to it that I didn't get to read it until now. I studied Japanese history as an undergrad, so the modern world of Tokyo is a mystery to me. Adamson's tale was entertaining, and chock full of all those sorts of little pop culture details that were really interesting to read. Add in a mystery and a touch of history, and maybe a supernatural event or two, and the result was a fine read. no reviews | add a review
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Tokyo, July 2001: Hard-boiled reporter Billy Chaka is back in the neon metropolis interviewing a has-been pop singer turned pachinko fanatic for Youth in Asia magazine. Looks like an easy assignment until he witnesses a beautiful young woman suffer a seizure in the Lucky Benten pachinko hall. When she is later found dead beneath the expressway, Chaka becomes embroiled in an apparent blackmail plot involving a Ministry of Construction official, a brash nineteen-year-old girl, a shadowy entity known only as "Mr. Bojangles," and four silent figures who have a penchant for showing up uninvited inside Chaka's hotel room. As the bodies pile up and the mystery deepens, Chaka must untangle the lies, obsessions, and seemingly supernatural events that link the dead woman to a forgotten, bloody incident from the desperate closing days of World War II. Spellbinding and hilarious, Dreaming Pachinko will take you on a surreal thrill- ride through the city of the future -- a place where no one can escape the past. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Interesting mystery with some WWII history thrown in. ( )