Title: softly voiced praise
Product review: This book made me pensive, laugh, shake my head and sigh at the vagaries of human cultures. About 25 years ago I got hooked on Japanese television programs, and many of the subtitled presentations depict events leading up to the decisive battle between the Toyotomi's and the Tokugawa's, and the establishment and the eventual cessation of the Tokugawa Shogunate. As a first published novel I marveled at his use of language, visualizing and framing a scene, as when the bodies of Mary-Ann and her daughters were found, and making the shelter in the snow, or the encounter with the whale on the Inland Sea, the way he had his characters use language to distract, to persuade, to seduce; his acknowledgement of the influence of women in pivotal events, and to the discomfort of Western sensibilities, the acceptance of fate and predetermined destiny. I liked this book, blood, guts, intrigue, and all.
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