This is an excellent
novel about a community forming around a Japanese garden -and a phone
box- that allows the bereaved to talk to those whom they have lost.
None of the modern Western cliches: “closure”, “coming to
terms”, “moving on” or the new one: “life affirming” really
apply. Japanese people do not move on from dead loved ones, nor do
they wish to close them off from their present and future lives and,
instead of coming to terms with their loss, they communicate
with those they have lost and, in this novel, those whom they have
gained.
The setting is
between a terrible Tsunami and a massive Typhoon, but some of the
bereavements are the consequence of individual illness or accident,
including a stupid accident. One of them isn’t strictly speaking a
bereavement at all. There is an extraordinary amount of kindness and
respect in this book and there is no religious exclusivity: the
characters are interested in each other’s insights regardless of
where they get them from. I commend this book to all readers;
atheists may have to work at it to some extent, but the small effort
involved will be worth it.
The Phone Box at the
Edge of the World is published on 25/6/2020 by Manilla Press.
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