“Weird” and “quirky” are adjectives readily bandied about when reviewing Japanese literature. Interchangeable tropes about Murakami, Marquez and magical realism are lazily trotted out at every opportunity until the words are denuded of meaning. So what happens when something truly bizarre comes along?
Ono Masatsugu’s “Echo on the Bay” is strange, unsettling and definitely weird, but in a brilliantly original and unique way. This isn’t the “quirkiness” of talking cats, second sight and women out of phase with the world around them. Rather this is a master storyteller playing with his reader, undermining their expectations and pushing them into unusual perspectives.
Set in a village on the coast of Oita Prefecture, the book opens with all the appearance of a comedy. Narrator Miki’s father is the new police officer in town, the posting hardly a promotion. He is more interested in the new car the transfer affords him than the reality of the move, but Miki quickly alerts us to some potential problems ahead: