Logo image
  • BookDragon
  • About
  • The Blogger
  • Review Policy
  • Smithsonian APAC
 
5184
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-5184,single-format-standard,stardust-core-1.1,stardust-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,stardust-theme-ver-3.1,ajax_updown_fade,page_not_loaded,smooth_scroll

BookDragon Blog

12 Aug / Tokyo Fiancée by Amélie Nothomb, translated by Alison Anderson

Tokyo FianceeReferred to on the front flap as “highly autobiographical,” this slim story proves to be an addictive quick read. The protagonist Amélie (who is not so unlike the author Amélie) returns to Japan where she was born to Belgian parents and spent part of her childhood. Now 20, she arrives in Tokyo and almost immediately begins to tutor a young man in French. Rinri, at first shy and linguistically challenged (surely linked characteristics), turns out to be the 19-year-old only son of extremely wealthy – not to mention generous – parents. He’s also intelligent, sweet, caring, and rather handsome to boot. Two young, curious people … can an affair be far off?

But this is definitely not your usual mushy love story – it’s also got quite a bit of ‘portrait of an artist as a young (wo)man’ seamlessly woven in. While she greatly appreciates Rinri’s endless kindnesses and attentions, our Amélie is a quirky free-thinker (who can climb mountains with near-superhuman ease!) who can’t quite disassociate marriage with “platitudes, just like the contract that defines it,” and prefers instead the concept of engagement which “contains the idea of a gage, a pledge.” Plain and simple, she’s just not ready to get hitched …

In sparse, finely-tuned language (even in translation), Nothomb offers a lasting glimpse of two disparate young souls who could have been old soulmates. Filling just 152 short pages, she manages to create a wise, untraditional, touching tale about first love … as she writes at book’s end, “[i]nfinitely more beautiful and noble than some silly love story.” Sure words indeed.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009 (United States)

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Japanese, Translation Tags > Alison Anderson, Amélie Nothomb, BookDragon, Cultural exploration, Love, Tokyo Fiancée
1 Comment
  • Pingback:Thirst by Amélie Nothomb, translated by Alison Anderson [in Shelf Awareness] | BookDragon Reply

Post a Comment
Cancel Reply

Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024

202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

Additional contact info

Mailing Address
Capital Gallery
Suite 7065, MRC: 516
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Fax: 202.633.2699

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

Learn More

Contact BookDragon

Please email us at SIBookDragon@gmail.com

Follow BookDragon!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Looking for Something Else …?

or