Another round-up of reviews

I read four very different books over the past week.  I can't seem to settle down to write, so I thought I'd try another round of quick reviews.

Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay

This is the fourth of his books that I've read, and it's really excellent - as good as the two Sarantium books that bowled me over earlier this year.  Based on my admittedly-small sample so far, I think I'll prefer his later books to his earlier.  This one was published in 2010, and that year it won the ALA award for Best Fantasy Novel.  It is set in a world that mirrors the T'ang Dynasty in China.  I know very little about the actual Dynasty, even its dates (according to Google, 618-906 CE).  In this world, Shen Tai, the son of a famous general, has spent the two years of formal mourning for his father on a battlefield.  He hasn't been fighting, but burying the thousands of bones that remain, which releases their spirits.  To honor this work of mercy, a princess from his native Kitai, now exiled in marriage to a foreign ruler, bestows on him a gift: 250 Sardian horses, Heavenly Horses, the best in the world.  In Kitai, where horses of any kind are all too rare, Tai is suddenly wealthy beyond compare. Even more importantly, his horses could shift the balance of power in the empire.  After two years of solitude among the dead, he must leave his isolated valley for the intrigues of court.  There are those who would kill him for his horses, and the first attack comes in the valley itself. Tai must find his way not just on the roads to Xinan, the capital, but also through the competing claims for his loyalty, and for those horses.  This is a great story, and I am glad that Mr. Kay included some suggested reading in an afterword.  I'm curious now about China in this period.  I'm also looking forward to his newest book, River of Stars, which is set in the same world.


The Hell Screen, I.J. Parker

This is the fifth in a series of mysteries set in 11th-century Japan, featuring a court official named Sugawara Akitada.  In the course of his duties, he is often drawn into investigating crimes, particularly murder.  As this book opens, he is returning to the capital of Heian Kyo (modern-day Kyoto), after four years as the governor of a remote province in the north.  He is hurrying home because his mother is dying.  I have enjoyed all of the books in this series, but for a while after my mother died, I found that I didn't want to read about other people's mothers dying, so I set this book aside.  (And I couldn't just skip over it because of my OCD need to read series in order.)  The book actually begins with a gruesome murder of a young woman.  Then we jump back to Akitada, traveling by horse, who is forced to seek shelter for the night at a Buddhist monastery.  Later he learns that that the murder took place there, that same night, and he can't help asking questions, as much as it irritates Kobe, the superintendent of police.  With no official assignment, waiting out his mother's illness, he is also recruited to help his brother-in-law, an official of the royal treasury, who has discovered some items are missing and fears he will be blamed.  At the same time he must figure out how to help his youngest sister, their mother's care-giver for many years, who will now be free to marry and start her own family.  In all of these difficulties, he is assisted as usual - when he will accept help - by his patient wife Tamako, his secretary Semei, and his retainers Genba and Toro.  I like Akitada, a man of honor who always tries his best to do the right thing, though he can be awfully cranky at times.  Actually, I think he and Shen Tai would find they have a lot in common.  I also enjoy the setting in medieval Japan, which Ms. Parker skillfully evokes.  In each book, she includes an afterword that explains something of the history and the culture of the time, and in this case suggests a couple of books for further reading.  I already have the next book in this series waiting to be read.


Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast

I know Roz Chast primarily from her cartoons in The New Yorker.  Last year the magazine carried an excerpt from this book.  The style of the drawings was immediately familiar, but the subject matter was far from her usual.  It is a memoir of caring for her parents in their last years - or trying to care for them.  This isn't a happy story of peaceful golden years. Her parents were in denial for many years about their increasing frailty, her father's mental confusion.  Ms. Chast lived in Connecticut, her parents in Brooklyn, in the apartment where she had grown up, to which she returned reluctantly.  She had a difficult relationship with her mother, a domineering woman given to angry outbursts she called "Blasts from Chast."  I couldn't help noticing that in the family photos interspersed with Ms. Chast's drawings, she is never smiling in any taken with her mother - only with her father.  In December of 2005, her mother had a bad fall and ended up hospitalized twice.  Her father came to stay with her, which is when Ms. Chast realized how far his mental state had deteriorated.  Though her mother came back to their apartment, it finally became clear that they could no longer live alone, even together.  Ms. Chast found them a place at a retirement community near her home.  She then began clearing out the apartment where they had lived for almost fifty years.  At the same time, she had to deal with their declining physical health, and with the worry of how to pay for their care - with all the day-to-day anxieties and difficulties, which she discusses in vivid detail.  Though I was not involved in the day-to-day care of my mother, much of this book felt familiar, including the guilty feeling that you are never doing enough.  In the end, I think Ms. Chast finds a balance in remembering her life as their daughter, and the terrible ordeals of their last years.  It is a hard book to read, but with moments of grace, especially at the end.


Rose Cottage, Mary Stewart

After three rather intense books, I was in the mood for something lighter, particularly while recovering from a migraine.  I know that Anbolyn is planning a Mary Stewart reading week for September, but Jane's recent review of Stormy Petrel made me disinclined to wait.  Rose Cottage is one of her last books, published in1997, and certainly one of her quietest.  Set in 1947, it is narrated by Kate Herrick, returning to the Sunderland village of Todhall where she grew up, and where she was known as Kathy.  Born to an unmarried mother, she was raised by her loving grandparents after her mother left home, to escape an aunt who hated the sinner as well as the sin.  Both Kate's grandparents worked for the local squire's family at "the Hall," their Sunderland house, and in the summers on their Scottish estate.  The family is now planning to covert the Hall to a hotel and to sell off Rose Cottage, where Kate's family lived.  Her grandmother, comfortably settled on the Scottish estate, wants Kate to go down to the cottage to retrieve some things left behind.  The most important of these are stored in a small locked box, concealed in one of the walls.  Kate, widowed in the war and a bit at loose ends, is glad to do so.  When she returns to Todhall, after seven years' absence, she meets old friends again and revisits familiar scenes.  Not much really happens in this book, as Kate becomes Kathy again.  There is a little mystery about the box and its contents, a lot of reminiscing, and a little bit of romance.  It was perfect for a quiet day at home.


Now I am off to tour Hampshire by pony-carriage, with two enthusiastic Janeites in 1902.  I'm also watching the 1970s drama "Emergency!" on Netflix.  I used to have such a crush on Dr. Brackett!

The murder of a prince

Island of Exiles, I.J. Parker

This is the fourth in a series of mysteries set in 11th-century Japan, featuring Sugawara Akitada, an official in the imperial Ministry of Justice.  In the third book, Black Arrow, he accepted an assignment as provisional governor of the remote northern Echigo Province (today's Niigata Prefecture).  As this book opens, he and his family, which now includes his baby son Yori, are still in Echigo.  They have been waiting six months for his recall to the capital, and for his salary, now badly in arrears.  Facing the onset of another long winter, with their resources exhausted, their situation is becoming desperate.

When envoys from the capital arrive one day, it is not with good news.  Men of high rank, they carry documents from the Emperor himself, ordering an investigation into the murder of a member of the imperial family.  Prince Okisada, the eldest brother of the current Emperor, had been passed over in the line of succession.  Okisada later plotted to gain the throne for himself, which led to his permanent exile on Sado Island, a penal colony off the coast of Echigo.  While visiting a friend's home, the Prince was suddenly taken ill and died.  Poison was immediately suspected, and the son of the island's governor, a young man named Toshito who was present, was arrested and charged.  Though the case against Toshito seems clear, there are larger issues at stake.  There are rumors that Okisada may have been plotting another attempt to take the throne, perhaps this time by an alliance with the Ezo people of the north (who played a part in Black Arrow).

Akitada has no choice but to accept the assignment, coming as it does from the highest authority.  But then the envoys add a twist: they suggest that he go undercover, alone and posing as a convict.  Though he travels with secret papers identifying himself, from the moment of his arrival he is subject to brutal discipline and even abuse.  Because the prevailing Buddhist ethos forbids the taking of life, executions are rare.  The most severe punishment, for crimes like murder and treason, is exile.  Exiles like the Prince, with financial resources, find life on Sado pleasant, if a bit restricted.  For a convict like "Taketsuna," the newest arrival, life is likely to be brutish and short, hard labor on short rations, particularly for those assigned to the island's silver mines.

"Taketsuna" quickly finds allies.  The governor, advised of his arrival and anxious to clear his son, appoints him a clerk, sparing him from manual labor.  He is assigned to assist a provincial tax inspector on his rounds, which will give him the chance to meet the Prince's inner circle and to ask questions.  But his investigations draw the attention of Kumo, a rich landowner and the province's high constable.  Returning to the capital of Mano one night, he is set upon by armed men who beat him senseless.  When Akitada awakes, he is imprisoned deep in one of Kumo's mines, with his investigation stalled and many questions unanswered.  What is the connection between Kumo and the Prince?  Is Toshito being framed for the murder, perhaps because of conflicts between his father and Kumo?  Most importantly, how can he escape the brutal slavery of the mine?  His disappearance alarms his family back in Echigo, and his faithful retainer Tora travels to Sado to find him, arriving just in time to help him escape and finally resolve the case.

As I have said before, I don't know much about 11th-century Japan.  Each story in the series has introduced me to a new place, a new level of society.  Even so, this story's setting is unique.  And in this story, Akitada is completely out of his element.  While he does have allies, he is on his own for much of the story, without the protection of his position or his household.  He endures the humiliating and dangerous conditions of life as a supposed criminal.  He risks his life to pursue the investigation, driven by his sense of duty, and also by stubbornness and curiosity.  I'm looking forward to seeing where they take him next.

Murder in the provinces

Black Arrow, I.J. Parker

This is the third book in a series of mysteries set in 11th century Japan, the central character of which is Sugawara Akitada, an official in the Ministry of Justice in the imperial capital of Heian-Kyo (today's Kyoto).  The first Akitada story I read was The Masuda Affair, the seventh in the series (and one of my favorite books of 2011), and I am now catching up with the earlier books.

At the end of the second book, Rashomon Gate, Akitada accepted an appointment as the provisional governor of Echigo Province to the north (now the Niigata Prefecture).  As he will discover, this is a very different world from the capital.  It is known as "Snow Country" because of its long hard winters, which make travel, and therefore communication with the capital, impossible once the snows begin to fall.  The territory is also vulnerable to attack from the Ezo (Ainu) people from the north, and local warlords form the first line of defense against them.  As in Echigo, many of the formally-appointed governors prefer to delegate their responsibilities while they live in more congenial surroundings.

Akitada has brought his new wife Tamako (now expecting their first child) to the town of Naoetsu, with his household staff Seimei (his secretary), Tora, Genba and Hitomaro (all former outlaws).  He considers these men members of his family, for whom he is responsible, and their loyalty to him proves vital in this new assignment.  Akitada discovers that his position as governor does not impress people.  Real power rests with the Uesugi family, which holds the impregnable Takata castle, an army of warriors, and the title of High Constable.

Akitada is determined to uphold imperial authority and his own position as governor.  When the townspeople refuse to bring cases to his tribunal, he takes over the investigation of the murder of a local inn-keeper.  When the old lord of Takata, Uesugi Maro, dies and his equally aged retainer Hideo, disappears, Akitada and his staff begin looking into that matter too, as well as the finances of the province.  All this leads Akitada into conflict with the new lord of Takata, and with a prominent local merchant Sunada, both of whom seem to have much too much influence.  He finds unexpected allies in the community of hinin, outcasts, many of them of mixed Japanese and Ezo descent, and with a yamabushi priest, a shaman-healer.  Akitada must draw on all of his resources, including his knowledge of the law, to solve the murders and maintain imperial authority in the province, even against armed attack.

I really enjoyed this story.  While I would not want to be snowed in for the season at Naoetsu, it makes a wonderful setting, particularly for this time of year (even in unseasonably warm Houston).  I don't know much about 11th century Japan, and as always I appreciated the "Historical Note" at the end of the book.  I learned something about the Ezo (Ainu) from Isabella Bird's Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, recounting her travels to the far north of Japan in 1878, which made her one of the first Europeans, men or women, to visit that remote region.

I also enjoyed Akitada's adventures.  I expected him to triumph over the Emperor's enemies, and not just because I've read ahead in the series, but watching him work out the cases and the political situation was very satisfying.  I find him an appealing character, his strong sense of duty and honor mixed with self-deprecation and doubt.  He is at times overwhelmed with responsibility, particularly toward his family, but he also draws strength from them, and they respond with loyalty and affection, forgiving his occasional peevishness and sulks.  I also enjoy reading about all the domestic details of life in 11th century Japan, where tea is expensive and considered more a medicine than a necessity of life.  I'm glad I already have the next book in the series all ready to go.

Murder in academia

Rashomon Gate, I.J. Parker

Maybe it's from growing up and working in college towns, but I love stories set in academia.  Gaudy Night is probably my favorite of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and I also enjoy Jill Paton Walsh's series set in Cambridge, with college nurse Imogen Quy, as well as Connie Willis' 21st century Oxford.  Rashomon Gate takes place in and around a university in 11th century Japan, but despite the very different setting, some things sound very familiar: budget cuts, declining enrollments, faculty squabbles, accusations of cheating, and student pranks.  And then there is murder.

This is the second in a series of mystery novels featuring Sugawara Akitada, an official at the Ministry of Justice, in the imperial capital of Heian-Kyo (modern Kyoto).  The first I read, The Masuda Affair, turned out to be the seventh in the series, and now I'm reading the earlier books.  As this book opens Akitada, bored with the endless paperwork of his job, receives a dinner invitation from one of his former professors at the Imperial University.  Professor Hirata is more than a teacher to Akitada, who lived in his home while attending the university, after a breach with his own father.  He feels a responsibility for the older man, and for his daughter Tamako, now a lovely young woman.

Hirata shows Akitada a note that had been left in his academic gown: "While men like you enjoy life, others do not have enough to fill their bellies. If you wish to keep your culpability a secret, pay your debts! I suggest an initial sum of 1000 cash."  He assures Akitada that it cannot be meant for him and asks his help in investigating it.  For the sake of the university, he wants it handled discretely, so he suggests that Akitada take a temporary position with the law faculty, as a cover for his investigations.  Accepting this charge offers Akitada a break from the dull office routine, leading him into three separate mysteries involving theft and murder.  These cases bring him into contact with Kobe, the captain of the Metropolitan Police, who like many professionals in law enforcement resents this amateur detective, especially when Akitada solves the cases for him.  They also bring him into frequent contact with Tamako, with whom he falls in love.  Her father suggests marriage to a very willing Akitada, but she refuses him, and his emotional turmoil makes it difficult to concentrate on his teaching or his investigations.

With this book I enjoyed learning more about Akitada's family and background.  His retainers Seimei and  Tora (a former bandit) uncover key information during the investigations, in the course of which Akitada adds two more reformed outlaws to his household. There is another and much more important addition to the family: a wife.  It was also interesting to read about the city of Heian-Kyo and the university.  As well as a "Historical Note" at the end of the book, my edition included a map of the city and illustrations, which helped me picture a world so very different from my own.

Death and taxes in medieval Japan

The Dragon Scroll, I.J. Parker

This is the first book in a mystery series set in 11th century Japan.  I recently read the seventh book in the series, The Masuda Affair, and liked it so much that I wanted to go back to the start of the series.  It's always interesting to do this, even after just one book, because then you start the series in a sense knowing the end of the story (at least to that point).  But the characters you meet at the beginning are likely to be different, not yet changed by the events of the intervening books.

As this book opens, we meet Sugawara Akitada on the road to a distant province.  A minor official in the imperial Ministry of Justice, he has been sent to investigate missing tax payments.  It is his first major assignment, and he dreams of glory.  Since the governor of the province has completed his term of office, a routine audit would normally be conducted as part of the transition of authority.  In this case, though, there are also those missing taxes, three years' worth as he discovers, and the governor is a likely suspect.

On the road to Kazusa Province, Akitada and his old family retainer Seimei are attacked by two bandits.  A third man arrives out of nowhere to help fight them off.  In gratitude, Akitada hires the young man, Tora, as servant and escort.  Tora ignores much of the protocol of their formal and hierarchical society, to Seimei's dismay, even coaching Akitada in stave-fighting.

Akitada and his men arrive in the provincial capital to begin their investigation.  He soon realizes that the missing funds may be part of a bigger problem, involving a local Buddhist temple whose abbot is drawing large crowds of pilgrims, but whose monks are making trouble in the city.  The former governor of the province hints to Akitada that he may have important information, and the next day he is found dead.  Akitada cannot accept the official ruling of accidental death, though the investigation of murder is far beyond his official remit.  In this, he reminded me of a very different hero, Miles Vorkosigan, from Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series.  As an Imperial Auditor, Miles can follow any lead or idea, however nebulous, which draws his attention, and he can command all the necessary resources as well as compliance with his investigation.  Akitada lacks that kind of authority, and his resources are limited, but he makes the best use of what he has.  With Tora's help, and that of local residents, he moves through the city, collecting evidence.  He, Tora, Seimei, and the outgoing governor join forces to build their case and uncover the truth.

As with The Masuda Affair, the author includes a brief historical note at the end of the book, with some general information about life in Japan during this period.  I learned that much of the culture was based on China's, as was the government structure.  Officials like Akitada had to read and write both Chinese and Japanese.  I was surprised to learn that rice wine was then a more popular drink than tea, which had been introduced from China but hadn't really caught on yet.

I enjoyed this introduction to Akitada, and I'm looking forward to his further adventures.  There are hints that his mother is quite a Tartar; her first meeting with Tora should be interesting.

Murder in medieval Japan

The Masuda Affair, I.J. Parker

I came across this in the "new book" bins at the library, and the cover caught my eye.  Standing there, I opened the book, and from the first paragraph I wanted to know what happened next:

"He was on his homeward journey when he found the boy. At the time, caught in the depth of hopelessness and grief, he did not understand the significance of their meeting.  Sugawara Akitada, a member of the privileged class and moderately successful in the service of the emperor, was barely in the middle of his life and already sick of it . . . when his young son died during that spring's smallpox epidemic, he found no solace . . . as if the man he once was had departed with the smoke from his son's funeral pyre . . ."

I learned from the jacket that the story is set in 11th century Japan, and that it is the seventh book in a series featuring Sugawara Akitada, an official in the Ministry of Justice in the capital of Heian-Kyo (modern Kyoto).  Normally I like to start a series in the beginning, but in this case I found the character of Akitada, and the setting, so intriguing, that I wanted to read it immediately.  After a week of Victorian England, I was also very much in the mood for something completely different.

Riding through a stretch of lonely forest at dusk, on the eve of the feast of O-bon, when the spirits of the dead return to their homes, Akitada hears a child weeping.  For a moment he thinks the small figure he sees could be his son Yori, but he soon realizes that it is no ghost but a child, lost, hungry, and in rags.  Akitada takes the child to a near-by town, feeds him, buys him new clothes and toys, and finds solace in feeling like a father again.  He is later devastated when two peasants appear out of nowhere and accuse him of kidnapping their son.  He cannot believe the child is really theirs, so in part to defend himself he begins to investigate the child's background.  He learns that there may be a connection through a famous courtesan, Peony, to the local lord's family, the Masudas.  According to the townsfolk, Peony drowned herself after the young Lord Masuda's death, though there are rumors that his death was not a natural one.  Returning to his home in the capital, Akitada discovers other connections to a powerful lord, Fujiwara Sadanori, who was also once Peony's patron. 

Though his investigation is completely unofficial, through it he begins to find his way back to life after his son's death.  It also helps him break down the barriers that loss has left between his wife Tamako and himself, and with the members of his household.  This being the seventh book, clearly there is a lot of history in these relationships, which gives the story an emotional depth. I want to know more about these people, especially Akitada and Tamako, and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

I know very little about the history of Japan in this period, though when I was a child, one of my favorite books was One Hundred Eight Bells, a story of a girl growing up in Toyko in the post-war period.  (I was thrilled to find my own copy a few years ago, though the internet.)  The author includes a "Historical Note" at the end, which gives some context and additional information.  Though this is a historical novel, the setting is only sketched in, as a framework for the strong characterizations and the twists of the plot.  This is not a "ye olde tymes" book, and because of my own lack of knowledge about Japan's past, I would not have known the time-frame of the story, if not for the jacket blurb.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I already have the first book in the series from the library.