A mind-expanding, cheerfully dystopian new novel by Yoko Tawada, winner of the National Book Award
Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.” Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): “homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language.”
As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends. Her troupe travels to France, encountering an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra-nationalist named Breivik; unrequited love; Kakuzo robots; red herrings; uranium; an Andalusian matador. Episodic and mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, and soon they’re all next off to Stockholm.
With its intrepid band of companions, Scattered All Over the Earth (the first novel of a trilogy) may bring to mind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or a surreal Wind in the Willows, but really is just another sui generis Yoko Tawada masterwork.
0 有用 Barroquería 2023-06-29 10:06:18 美国
在数次等待和乘坐公车地铁中读完的六月通勤书籍。来自已经从地平线上消失的日本的Hiruko带着她的集合了她所有居留地的自制语言,在不同城市间寻找着另一个和她同样母语的人,却也逐渐意识到母语消解了,大家正以各式原因把逃避当旅行。“ride the turtle of language home”:龟壳却是家。
0 有用 真夜中 2022-12-31 22:25:45 上海
Still a page-turner, but it lacks a sense of mystery that I often find in her previous books. Not so many interesting discussions related to languages and borderline but I guess the storyline is still... Still a page-turner, but it lacks a sense of mystery that I often find in her previous books. Not so many interesting discussions related to languages and borderline but I guess the storyline is still fun and lighthearted. (展开)
0 有用 Le Flaneur 2023-09-26 21:03:08 上海
开头设定还蛮有意思的,但后面就越来越trippy越来越无聊了
0 有用 草原雷雨 2023-10-14 11:34:52 美国
以语言为线编织文化、重新追寻国家定义的一本小说,读到快一半才发现这本书是三部曲的第一部。书最后一章里所有人物都在同一场所里聚齐,期待下一部的发展,最主要是期待作者如何定义Knut和Hiruko的关系:)
0 有用 Siannajie 2023-04-05 06:42:44 美国
比《献灯使》好看,更感觉像是它的后续。喜欢作者把使用第二语言的人,与莫奈喜欢浮世绘来相比。许多对欧洲的描写也很有趣,比如全球变暖,爱斯基摩人反而开心因能种植作物;因为禅学很火,许多女性都随身携带迷你菩萨模型;单亲母亲是现在的富人阶级。期待后面的两本快快出翻译!
0 有用 7531689 2024-10-30 04:52:20 美国
第一次读towada yoko,有几处确实震撼了
0 有用 Freiheit! 2024-08-15 20:49:42 美国
Omg I absolutely love what she’s trying to do here, but not so much how she’s doing it. The conception of this book is so so interesting, but somehow weighed down by the dull narrative :(
0 有用 人类学生 2024-05-21 01:33:59 美国
3.5 听的英文有声书。关于语言带来的梳理和亲密、权力与边缘化这个核心抓得好,但是故事情节一般,前半段进展非常慢。男人和母亲之间的关系“可以但没必要”(就是我个人现在不太喜欢看*男人和自己和世界和爹妈和解并且做世界主人这一套了……
1 有用 栞 2024-01-26 01:16:00 美国
关于语言的小说,母语的消解的同时,也有身份的消解,nation/identity/gender等等这些fixed categories的模糊和流动,是in-betweenness。故事到最后越来越飘忽大概也是表现了这个主题吧。“origin”到底是什么?是否真的有一个固定的源头让我们可以“寻根”?当你的国家物理上从地球上消失,你的文化和语言,消融在别的语言和文化之中(比如人们不在知道寿司最开始是哪... 关于语言的小说,母语的消解的同时,也有身份的消解,nation/identity/gender等等这些fixed categories的模糊和流动,是in-betweenness。故事到最后越来越飘忽大概也是表现了这个主题吧。“origin”到底是什么?是否真的有一个固定的源头让我们可以“寻根”?当你的国家物理上从地球上消失,你的文化和语言,消融在别的语言和文化之中(比如人们不在知道寿司最开始是哪个国家的食物,很多原本是日文的词语融入英语,北欧语系,成为这些语言中的常用词),作为一个个体,你又是谁又在哪里? (展开)
0 有用 nwstreet 2024-01-17 09:35:13 美国
When people are always on the move, our language becomes a mixture of all the scenes we’ve passed through on the way. 读的时候觉得很多关于语言的对话好像是 P 和 YQ 在讲话,又或者这就是离散者的谈话。真实世界里,Knut 是离散的北极熊。