Bizarre. And confusing. Sympathy Tower Tokyo reads like a treatise on language and a personal philosophy shoehorned into a piece of fiction; the only issue – from my perspective at least – is that the narrative / story isn’t strong enough to do the heavy lifting. In that sense it failed to work as theory, philosophy, and novel.
Yet maybe context is the thing. In Rie Qudan’s native Japan – and within that culture – the book functions perfectly well. Indeed it must do because it has been lauded, won awards. I’m not sure where that leaves my assessment therefore; is it invalidated in some way? (Though I have to say I never have an issue of ‘failure’ with someone like Murakami.)
Maybe you can make up your own mind, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy it…
Ian Gouge - Writer 