Don’t get me wrong. I’m not not into novels. It’s just that most of the reading and reviewing I have done on this site is for non-fiction books written about (or by, or both) Japanese baseball players and teams. This genre of book comes out of right field in some ways. In fact, although baseball threads the story together, it certainly is not the primary focus of the book or even one of its themes. Anyhow, let me explain very briefly how it found its way onto my bookshelf.
Around six months ago, I did a short presentation online about my journey as the unofficial Hanshin Tigers nerdy gaijin. The author of this book was in attendance and talked to me about her works, including some that were about baseball. At the time, she mentioned a book for children that she had written, which she then sent to me, and I read, enjoyed, and reviewed. Then this book came up, and she asked if I would do a pre-release check. Naturally, I agreed to it. And the verdict?
First, the storyline, in a nutshell. Christine is an American teacher with great ambition to change the world around her. She falls in love with, and eventually marries, Hideki, a Japanese high school teacher and baseball coach in rural Shikoku. His ultimate dream is to lead a team to victory in a prefectural tournament that would send them to the national championship at Koshien Stadium. As many of you know, getting to Koshien and winning that tourney is no small feat. The commitment required by players and coaches is out of this world. And so, Christine has to go about life on her own, without Hideki’s assistance. Raising two children, one a victim of bullying and the other physically and mentally handicapped, is hard no matter what the circumstances. But being an extreme minority in rural Japan without any community or support is beyond stressful. Throw in a senile in-law, and you have a pretty miserable protagonist.
The interesting thing about this book is that there are three protagonists, not just one. Christine and Hideki and Daisuke, one of the players on the team (a returnee who has his own set of issues), each get spotlighted in different chapters. Each storyline runs parallel to the others, sometimes crossing paths and sometimes just mirroring each other in levels of tension. The three distinct characters each have likable qualities but also a lot of baggage. How do they persist through life with the hard hand they have been dealt?
Without spoiler alerts, I will simply say this: I was not a huge fan of how the book ended, but it definitely threw a curveball at me. I could have never fathomed how it would turn out. That in and of itself means the ending was not terrible, it just was not how I envisioned it would wrap up. There were also times when I was more annoyed than sympathetic with the characters… but that could also be an indication of my own callous heart.
On the whole, I would recommend this book to people who are curious about Japan. Not Tokyo, not technology and anime and cosplay, but real, small-town, monocultural, frustrating Japan, through the eyes of Christine and many lonely people in this lonely nation.