Synopses & Reviews
In The Changeling, Nobel Prizewinning author Kenzaburo Oe takes readers from the forests of southern Japan to the washed-out streets of Berlin as he investigates the impact our real and imagined pasts have on our lives. Writer Kogito Choko is in his sixties when he rekindles a childhood friendship with his estranged brother-in-law, the renowned filmmaker Goro Hanawa. As part of their correspondence, Goro sends Kogito a trunk of tapes he has recorded of reflections about their friendship. But as Kogito is listening one night, he hears something odd. Im going to head over to the Other Side now,” Goro says, and then Kogito hears a loud thud. After a moment of silence, Goros voice continues, But dont worry, Im not going to stop communicating with you.” Moments later, Kogitos wife rushes in; Goro has jumped to his death from the roof of a building. With that, Kogito begins a far-ranging search to understand what drove his brother-in-law to suicide. The quest takes him to Berlin, where he confronts ghosts from both his own past, and that of his lifelong, but departed, friend.
Review
"Oe's achievement in The Changeling is to yoke a wide and occasionally surreal array of elements into a deep exploration of how two men with little in common remained lifelong confidants. Though Goro and Kogito lack vitality as characters — this is a book more concerned with the mechanics of friendship than with the people of whom a friendship is composed — Oe's cerebral, analytical prose is continually engrossing as it follows the ever-forking paths of their relationship." Scott Esposito, Los Angeles Times (read the entire )
Synopsis
Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe takes readers from the forests of southern Japan to the washed-out streets of Berlin as he investigates the impact real and imagined pasts have on present lives.
About the Author
Kenzaburo Oe is also the author of A Personal Matter, Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness, and A Quiet Life, among others. He has been awarded many honors, including the Prix Europalia and the Nobel Prize for Literature.