#kaoru takamura

[poetlcs]

books read in 2024 - no. 10

lady joker by kaoru takamura (trnsl.  marie lida &  allison markin powell )

[very-grownup]

"The ends of my fingers they cut off at the hospital -- I thought they were going to give them to me after the surgery, but they just threw them away. Those were part of me, and when I think about how they threw them out in the garbage, it's unbearable."

And if they had given him the severed fingers, what would he have done with them? Monoi wondered. "I guess so," he mumbled, but he had no idea of the private despair Yo-chan might be feeling about losing his fingers because of someone else's mistake.

- Lady Joker, Kaoru Takamura

[world-literatures]

just read: Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura

This is a complex crime fiction novel loosely based upon the Monster with 21 Faces case. It's also quite lengthy, to me possibly slightly overlong, but still very well plotted and paced.

I'd describe this book as challenging, but rewarding. It's detailed and complex, with a large cast of characters which weave in and out of the narrative. An expansive look at modern Japan, capitalism, greed and crime this novel is thematically rich and immersive.

Some parts were more entertaining then others and yet, I never felt my interest waning. I did find some of the cultural touchpoints and references eluded me - a Japanese person I think would feel more connected to this. And yet I was happy to come along for the ride anyway.

One highlight is the translation - it's excellently done. Meticulous prose that never feels clunky or confusing.

genres: crime

translator:  Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell

rating: no rating

themes: capitalism and greed, corporate corruption, crime and justice, post-war Japan

One of Japan’s great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus.

Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe discrimination.

Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company’s corrupt financiers.

Inspired by the unsolved true-crime kidnapping case perpetrated by "the Monster with 21 Faces", Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone since its 1997 publication, acknowledged as the magnum opus by one of Japan’s literary masters, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms.

[booksofdelight]

Lady Joker Book Guide and Review

Read the Lady Joker Book Guide and Review to see if this series is for you!

The Lady Joker volumes by Kaoru Takamura and translated by Allison Markin Powell and Marie Iida are epic mystery novels. They tell the tale of a kidnapping in Japan and what follows once they release the hostage. Find out the what we thought of the books in our Lady Joker book guide and review article! Lady Joker Books Lady Joker Volume One Lady Joker Volume Two Lady Joker Series Summary The…

[thedemises]

. . .  STRATEGIC TWISTS! featuring kaoru takamura & krystian karmazin!

contains! . . .  lowercase writing, use of the word monster (not in an insulting way..? i mean, its kaoru), pretty much none! notes! . . .  so... im trying out a new... this, whatever you call it— hope ya enjoy this lil drabble i made abt my two silly ocs :]]

with her back to the mostly monochrome jester, kaoru takamura begins, “so,” after outlining her strategy in eliminating her archenemy. she knows that her opponent will employ similar unexpected turns and twists as she did, but thanks to her intelligence, kaoru came very prepared for any planned deception going through her path.

with two allies at her side (albeit only one was willing to participate, the other... not so much, but begrudgingly, they had no choice but to accept), kaoru is confident that the plan will be deftly carried out to guarantee her success.

the hot pink-hued woman turns around and smiles expectantly at krystian karmazin with slim intertwined hands in front of her torso.

“you got it, krystian?”

grinning resolutely—showcasing the two pairs of sharp canines that were different from the rest of his less pointed teeth—the taller individual standing at a freakish 7’6” (228 cm) gives the woman of mildly-wavy hair a thumbs up, expressing his delight in flawlessly executing the intellectual’s plan.

krystian doesn't exactly to do things precisely wrong, unless it involves anything to do with those cunning clever little rodents called rats and mice.

“got it!” he exclaims proudly, well aware of the role he has to play and the tasks he has to do in the plot—quite ironic considering his true thoughts about the plan.

‘got what??’

of course, it must've been tiring keeping up with kaoru and this nemesis of hers' plots with dozens of turns of events.

because, as told by a majority of others spoken around, kaoru takamura is an absolute monster when it comes to strategy. not one person has been recorded to have figured out or outsmart any plan she made against them.

© thedemises 2024. all rights reserved. please do not repost, copy, or claim as your own.  ━━ word count: 293.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Edo no Irokoi Tsuya[江戸の色恋艶咄]: Tales of a Flirtatious Edo Love Affair

[physics-of-one-piece]

Get To Know Me

Thank you for the tag, @fanaticsnail ❤️ Sorry I’m late with this one.

Rules: Answer and tag 6 people

Favourite colour: Turquoise & blue, sea blue. I’m a sea kid, what can I say 🌊

Last Song: Rule #34 - Fish in a Birdcage. Everyone was saying it’s a Doffy song and yeh, it’s a Doffy song. It slaps. I love it. I always play it when I write for Doffy.

Currently reading: (goes to my little book corner) It depends on the day. I really like sci-fi, fantasy and detective/crime thrillers but also classical literature. Right now, I’m reading Lady Joker Volume 2 by Kaoru Takamura . Yeah, I know I know, the title is Doffy coded 🤣. I got it as a beach read and it’s very interesting, a crime novel. I’ve been going through it slowly.

Currently watching: Beethoven's Treasure Tail. Yeh, the dog movie, it was on the TV and I like dog movies so, yeh. Otherwise, for TV shows, Lucifer is fun as hell to watch. Funny, too. For anime, most recent one I watched is Skip and Loafer, the mc love interest is a Rosinante look-alike and has a golden retriever personality. Also, I’m planning to put on Lord of the Rings on the TV tonight, I adore those movies. My favourites are Legolas and Gimli, I love their friendship.

Currently craving: Something sweet. A cake. Vanilla and chocolate and biscuits and strawberries… 🤤 Fluffy American pancakes, too! I usually slice bananas and put them in there and add caramel syrup and finish it off with Nutella. Also, shredded biscuits atop! Yum.

Coffee or tea: COFFEE! Well, my stomach reacts better to tea but I always drink coffee, so coffee. I drink iced coffee mostly. When it's cold, hot chocolate is my go-to. Macchiato is nice, too.

No pressure tags: @ladycrocy @moonbaby26 @tuquidflamingo @skullfacedlady @ohnomyhooves @flamboyant-vampire @saracrossing02

[death-mark-ng]

Ghosts/Spoiler Names

Death Mark

Masamune Kujou (MC)

Black Rabbit

Hanahiko

Shimi-O/Shinzou Maruo

Hanayome/Seiko Hasegawa

Genta

Miss Zoo/Manabi Zukawa

Kannon Soldier

Red Riding Hood/Sayako Shiina

Death Mark 2

The Departed

Female Doll

Hanako of the toilet/Hanako Akai

Miho Shinji

Slit-Mouth Kashima/Rei Kashima

Pool Spirit

More To Be Added

NG

Momo Kuruse (Kaoru)

Yuri Takamura

Kaguya

Urashima Woman/Himeko Shimezu

Kubitarou of Kintoki/Kaneko Ooishi

Screaming Author/Tsubasa Aoi

Killer Peach/Tomoko Okayama

Yakumo Miroku

D-Man

Demon Tsukuyomi

[onanuine]

a bit of editorial procedural in Kaoru Takamura’s LADY JOKER tr. Marie Iida & Allison Markin Powell. there’s also i.a. iyi horse racing, betting on; beer pricing, R&D; dentistry https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn3BKosP-SKjuX0CoaeJ3H9QAMCrBpvmeTMJ5M0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[poetlcs]

⌜ 2024 book tracker⌝

total: 52/52

historical fiction

the vagrants - yiyun li (jan)

oranges are not the only fruit - jeanette winterson (feb)

lady joker - kaoru takamura (mar)

the heiress - rachel hawkins (mar)

in memoriam - alice winn (apr)

kairos - jenny erpenbeck (dec)

contemporary

act your age, eve brown - talia hibbert (jan)

penance - eliza clarke (jan)

we'll meet again in san francisco - duong thuy (feb)

search history - amy taylor (apr)

beartown - frederik backman (apr)

the sunshine court - nora sakavic (apr)

idol, burning - rin usami (jun)

blue sisters - coco mellors (jun)

the work - bri lee (jul)

we'll always have summer - jenny han (aug)

green dot - madeleine gray (nov)

intermezzo - sally rooney (nov)

the pairing - casey mcquiston (dec)

fantasy

divine rivals - rebecca ross (mar)

the pisces - melissa broder (jun)

city of glass - cassandra clare (jun)(rr)

the familiar - leigh bardugo (jun)

call down the hawk - maggie stiefvater (aug)

romance

relay - leyla reyna (mar)

the man ban - nicola marsh (may)

mile high - liz tomforde (sep)

mystery

the reappearance of rachel price - holly jackson (apr)

and then there were none - agatha christie (may)

the turn of the key - ruth ware (aug)

death at mourning house - maureen johnson (oct)

never lie - freida mcfadden (nov)

classics

down and out in paris and london - george orwell (mar)

the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde - robert louis stevenson (may)

north and south - elizabeth gaskell (jul)

if beale street could talk - james baldwin (nov)

a room with a view - em forster (nov)

a christmas carol - charles dickens (dec)

non-fiction

bad feminist - roxane gay (jan)

among tigers - k. ullas karanth (feb)

everything I know about love - dolly alderton (may)

how paris became paris - joean dejean (apr)

who gets to be smart - bri lee (sep)

on women - susan sontag (dec)

uncultured - daniella mestyanek young (dec)

golden maze: a biography of prague - richard fidler (dec)

dnf

bruny - heather rose (jan)

everyone in my family has killed someone - benjamin stevenson (jul)

all's well - mona awad (jul)

[very-grownup]

There was something terrifying about getting old. It couldn't be helped that you started to lose various things, one by one, but aging meant there would be nothing to fill those voids. Exactly a year ago, when he became aware of such hollows opening here and there, a desolate misery had begun to haunt him no matter what he did, and the fiend that writhed within him at those times might have been different from the one that had surfaced fifty years ago in Hachinohe -- perhaps it was a deformation of this old age. Had Lady Joker come about in defiance of his aging, as an attempt to elude it? But as this occurred to him, with signs of his old age setting in and constricting the air around him, he could only conclude that this new fiend had also been a misfire, leaving Monoi slightly bewildered and with no choice but to question himself anew -- Is this how you're going to end up?

- Lady Joker, Kaoru Takamura

[nevinslibrary]

Mystery/Thriller Monday

This is big, and, I guess Kaoru Takamura is really really big in Japan, but, this is the first time perhaps, that her books have been translated into English? At least, this is the first time that this book has been translated into English, and, it’s such a monster of a book (in only the best way) that it’s actually two volumes (and five parts). Yikes.

It takes place in 1995, and, reading about it after I read it, is based on the 1984 kidnapping of a Japanese executive. The book brings together five very different men with one thing in common, they all bet on horses at the racetrack every Sunday. They’re all struggling, and they decide to kidnap the CEO of Japan’s largest beer company and get a ransom from the company.

It was an endlessly complex book (because, it’s not a simple crime that they want to pull off), touching on capitalism, family, and post-World War II Japan. Amazing.

You may like this book If you Liked: Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon, Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, or Macbeth by Jo Nesbo

Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura

[booksofdelight]

Lady Joker Volume Two: Book Review

Read our review for Lady Joker Volume Two by Kaoru Takamura!

After reading Lady Joker Volume One it is impossible not to continue and finish the saga. That is why will be reviewing Lady Joker Volume Two by Kaoru Takamura and translated by Allison Markin Powell and Marie Iida. Keep reading to find out what we thought of the book and if you should read it! Lady Joker Volume Two Summary The second novel focuses on the fallout after Lady Joker kidnaps…

[thedemises]

. . .  SARAH [BY ALEX G]! featuring kaoru takamura & kaname nishiruka!

contains! . . . lowercase writing, oc writing, about my two ocs (+ an additional oc), not shipping you weirdos..., uncharacteristically sad kaoru & empathetic kaname, no plot, hurt/comfort(?), only just two lines of dialogue from kaname, mentioned catherine collison. notes! . . .  thought about something sad while I was reading something that wasn't even sad and the tiktok audio going "she looks so angry... why does everyone always look at you that way?" with Sarah by Alex G (sped up) playing in the background (currently am listening to Sarah rn-)

“she looks so angry...”

a simple comment leaves kaname's mouth as he glances at the seemingly disappointed and frustrated look in his superior's—catherine's—face from the small crack between the door and the frame that leads to the main office , then the child look back at kaoru who sat on the stair's steps with a straight posture.

in spite of the bright smile she donned, that never erased the gloominess that ached in her heart even as she denies such thing.

she's undeserving of feeling any emotions with how unhuman she feels and expresses that she can be viewed as simply “apathetic” by others.

staring with an empathetic gaze, a basic question was asked by kaname— “why does everyone always look at you that way?...”

initially, kaoru doesn't say a thing as eyes kaname once but that demeanour shifts as the smile slowly but steadily falls off her face into a upside-down smile—eyelids drooping over her pink irises and eyebrows slightly furrowed, the corners of her reddish-tinited lips forms into a small line but slightly downturned enough that it looks like it's about to bend and crack into a frown.

tucking a small lock of chocolatey brown curls, kaoru softly sighs out through her nose into the silence between her and the young child. kaname quietly walks to her side and sit down beside her while still gazing at the middle-aged woman with a saddened expression, before deciding to lean his head against her body.

the two sat in silence, not daring to disturb the tranquil quietness in the air between them.

© thedemises 2024. all rights reserved. please do not repost, copy, or claim as your own. ━━  word count: 274.

[littleeyesofpallas]

UKIYO-TSUYA-ZOUSHI[浮世艶草子]

[moodyfish]

Visited my city's public library for the first time in years. Let's see how good this is :)