(Warning: This is also a very weak rant.)
Listen, pal, I’ve been reading your fabulous book, Number9Dream , for months (I don’t have too much time to read). I just finished it last night, and you pissed me off like no author has ever done. Where the fuck do you get off creating this beautiful relationship between Eiji Miyake and Ai Imajo, then leave it to speculation whether she survived the earthquake? In fact, the entire earthquake is a complete cop-out. What happens to Buntaro and his expectant wife? To the Shooting Star? To everyone else who cared for Eiji while he was in Tokyo? Fuck you. Furthermore, Eiji constantly flashbacks to the memories of his little sister and best friend, Anju. Okay, I can deal with the fact that she drowned. That was sad. But I thought Eiji was finally attaining some closure with it. Did you really have to add this to one of the final paragraphs:
“I dream of a girl, drowning, resigned to her fate now that she knows there is no possibility of being saved by her brother.”
You know, I could’ve been perfectly happy the rest of my life without reading that line.
All in all, Eiji Miyake, with all the shit he’s been through – the death of Anju, the disappearance of his father, the mental illness of his mother, the run-ins with the yakuza, the Government corruption – he was almost happy. Almost. He could’ve made amends with his mother and returned to Tokyo to be with Ai Imajo. But you couldn’t give it to him. And for that, I will never forgive you.
(Thank you, though, for a masterfully-written book. I thoroughly enjoyed every single page of it. Has anyone else read Number9Dream? If so, I’d love to discuss it with you.)
Adam