96th book of 2022.

3.5. Feels like a mishmash of Mishima, Faulkner and Dostoyevsky. Sweet, bleak nihilism. At times like a dystopian novel. At its core, it's about our ancestors, history and how we can lie to ourselves and others. It's filled with suicide, incest, rape, adultery and murder. The writing in my edition was Bible-sized which made the density of it far worse. There are a number of oddball characters, hermits, "Japan's Fattest Woman", the memory of the narrator's friend who hanged himself with his head painted red and a cucumber up his arse. The brother, Takashi, feels like Mishima's Isao, with his radicalised views and expectations. The memories of an 1860 uprising taint the present day for all the characters involved. Though not always enjoyable, Ōe has incredible command and authority on the page. This is considered his masterpiece.