01 Sep / Boy by Takeshi Kitano, translated by David James Karashima [in Bloomsbury Review]
“Beat” Takeshi Kitano, most widely known as an acclaimed filmmaker, is indeed a Renaissance man. Besides making films, he’s an actor, comedian, major TV personality, poet, painter, and novelist – and most likely more. While he has published more than 50 books in Japan, Boy is his first American translation, thanks to hip indie publisher Vertical, Inc.
In three short stories, Kitano gently explores three stages of adolescent boyhood – from elementary school athletic sibling rivalry, to middle school sibling bonding after the loss of a beloved father, to a wannabe high school student (he’s really in his last year of middle school) who goes to Kyoto in search of history and meets a biker girl who wants to show him things other than from the past.
Readers: Adult
Published: 2007 (United States)