Since I
read and really enjoyed Yokoyama’s novel Six
Four, I really looked forward to this one.
I can’t say this book is as good as Six
Four, but it is certainly worth picking up.
As I began reading, I was confused because the book is described as an “investigative
thriller”. This is certainly an
inaccurate label because it is a slow-paced, complex and thoughtful examination
of the inner workings of a newspaper organization as it struggles to cover a
major news story.
Part of the
novel is set in 2003 as the protagonist, Kazumasa Yuuki, is climbing the
Tsuitate rock face of Mount Tanigawa. As
he does so, he thinks back to a week seventeen years earlier when the crash of
a plane interrupted his planned first attempt to scale it. In 1985, Yuuki is a seasoned reporter for a
regional newspaper when a Japan Airlines jet crashes into a mountain, killing
520. Yuuki, a career reporter, is made JAL
desk chief “in charge of seeing this story through to the end.” As he works to have staff write “detailed,
informative articles,” he finds himself caught in the middle of power struggles
between different factions of the organization.
Though not
a thriller, there is suspense. Yuuki’s
experience is as a reporter who has shown no interest in a managerial position,
so will he be able to fulfill the requirements of this new role when faced with
perhaps the biggest story the newspaper would ever cover? His job is complicated by the fact that Yuuki
feels “with his lack of self-control, he should never be put in a position
where he could exercise control over others.”
Will he be able to successfully navigate his way around the “internal
machinations at the paper” where it seems that all his superiors have
conflicting hidden agendas? As a
57-year-old, will he be able to scale a 330-metre vertical cliff on a mountain
where 779 climbers had lost their lives?
In addition, will Yuuki be able to repair his strained relationship with
his son?
The book
certainly shows how news stories are covered.
Since the author was himself an investigative reporter with a regional Japanese
newspaper for a dozen years, he certainly knows the rivalries that can develop
among various departments who each have their own goals. Yokoyama actually covered the JAL Flight 123
tragedy so the details of that actual event are realistic. Sometimes it is difficult to remember the
functions of the many characters, but titles and roles are usually mentioned
when a character appears. This
repetition is somewhat tedious but necessary, especially for a non-Japanese
reader who may have difficulty with the Japanese names. There is a detailed character glossary at the
end of the book, but constant reference to it would be aggravating.
Yuuki is a
fully developed character. As he faces
setbacks and makes decisions, some wrong and some right, his personality
emerges. Through flashbacks, we learn that he feels
great guilt for some actions in his past and that he has his “own dark storage
shed of memories.” He does know himself
to some degree: “Yuuki had suspected for a while that he was
only able to love people who loved him.
And even when he was sure he had their love, he couldn’t forgive them if
they were ever cool or indifferent towards him.
He expected absolute, unconditional love, and when he realized how
elusive that was, he would fall into utter despair. So, instead, he kept his distance from
people. He was wary of anyone who showed
him kindness and never let anyone see his private side. He was afraid of being hurt.” In that week in 1985 and in the intervening
seventeen years, Yuuki has learned more about himself and life: “As long as you kept running from birth until
death, falling down, getting hurt, no matter how many times you suffered
defeat, you got up and started running again.
Personal happiness came from all the things and people you came across,
ran into by chance along the way. . . . Climbing with all your might,
concentrating completely on moving up, never being distracted by the
meaningless stuff around you. He’d begun
to think it was a fine way to lead a life.”
Like Yoshinobu Mikami in Six Four,
Yuuki has a career crisis and must tread carefully to avoid some pitfalls at
work. He also has family difficulties
which he needs to address.
This is a
dense novel, but it has rewards for readers who persevere.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
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