06 Jul / Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter by Shoko Tendo, translated by Louise Heal [in San Francisco Chronicle]
Schadenfreude, of German origin, means joy at someone’s distress or misfortune – surely not the best of human reactions. But publishers have turned misery into a veritable gold mine with an endless array of voyeuristic best-sellers. From royals to ragamuffins, from addicts to abusers, exposés line bookshelves. One thing’s for certain: Readers can take comfort – yes, take joy, even – in knowing that their lives will never be quite that disastrous.
Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo is yet another addition to the schadenfreude genre. A best-seller in Japan in 2004, Moon is Schaden-voll, to say the least. Hollywood has had a heyday depicting the yakuza – the Japanese mob – and Tendo’s memoir does little to dispel the image of the cruel, violent, power-driven mobster life.
As the third of four children born to a mobster boss prone to violence, Tendo spends her childhood as a much-bullied pariah, unable to shake “the yakuza kid” label. As a schoolgirl, she loses all trust in adults after barely fighting off molestation by a young yakuza from her father’s gang. Her father is jailed, and upon his release, he becomes a violent drunk who comes home nightly escorted by bar hostesses. He abuses his wife, trashes their once-luxurious home and remembers nothing in the morning. …[click here to read more]
Review: San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2007
Readers: Adult
Published: 2007 (United States)
It’s an absolutely gripping story and a truly fine example of the schadenfreude genre. I loved every page of it! This tale of a woman’s struggle out of violence is brilliantly captured in the single by Three Days Grace, called “Pain”. If they ever make a movie out of this story, that deeply introspective song should really be included in its original sound track. If you’ve never listen to that fight music before, you can find it here.
Do you know this Book Notes blog: http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/book_notes/? I had never heard of it until I started getting incoming links on this blog … anyway, I think you’ll definitely find it interesting given your comment … the blogger asks writers about what they were listening to while they were writing their various works. It’s quite an interesting way to see how various mediums coalesce …
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