The Earthquake Bird

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional first outing for a new author
Review: I read "The Earthquake Bird" when it was first released in the UK. I normally wouldn't consider writing a review of a book that I had read months ago but in this case the distance works very well. This is a book that just gets better the more you think about it...and think about it you will.

Lucy Fly is a British woman who fled England years ago to live in Japan. Lucy is an enigmatic and detached character who, although allowing us to stroll through her mind, very rarely allows us to enter her heart or her soul. During the many years she has lived in Tokyo, she has made few friends and her central relationship is her affair with Teiji, a man who lives his life through his photographs. Lily Bridges, a young woman escaping her own personal hell in England, enters the lives of these lovers. In doing so, this seemingly naive young woman is the catalyst for the "earthquake" that upsets Lucy's claustrophobic and rather controlled life. For this, it would seem that poor Lily may have paid with her life.

This tightly-woven story unfolds at a slow and steady pace. While often sounding dispassionate, there is an undercurrent of electricity lurking beneath every word. Although it is a tale of passion, rage and obsession, emotions I associate with blazing colors, the story is told in muted shades of black and white. In the film noir style, there are scenes shrouded in a haze of fog, masked in gauze or with slim rays of light falling across small enclosed spaces. While there is no single stunning moment in "The Earthquake Bird," the story in itself is stunning.

At first I was thinking of comparing Ms. Jones' writing to that of Minette Walters, Barbara Vine or Nicci French but, on reflection, I believe that her storytelling skills are far more subtle. This is an extraordinary first outing and I anxiously await Ms. Jones' next book.

Make no mistake about it, "The Earthquake Bird" is Lucy's story and hers alone. She is the narrator and all that happens in the book is in her voice and seen through her eyes. If you want to take a walk on the dark side, I would strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of "The Earthquake Bird" and spend some time with Lucy.

Rating:
Summary: elusive lucy
Review: I too was impressed with the authors first book. Lucy's story unfolds in an unsual way with only bits and pieces revealed as she weaves together her past and the present. I found the occasional third person reference disturbing at first but realized it helped explain Lucy as a person. She really did not know her Japanese lover or even herself that well. One has the sense that by the end of the story she understands herself better but we, the reader are left with many unanswered questions. Overall it was a very well-written, often poetic book. I would recommend this book to anybody looking for a creative writing style or just a break from the normal "mystery or suspense" novel.

Rating:
Summary: Eerie Psychological Suspense Novel, Great Debut
Review: In this promising debut novel, Susanna Jones tells the story of a bright but disturbed British woman, Lucy Fly, who lives in Japan. Believing (incorrectly) that her actions during childhood caused her brothers death, Lucy stopped talking for three years and her family ignored her during most of her childhood. Escaping to Japan after leaving university, Lucy was content with her routine and a few friends.
The book is told through flashbacks as Lucy recalls events in her childhood and Japanese life that led to her questionning in a police station about the murder of a friend, Lily. As the story unfolds, you feel a sense of doom about the inevitable outcome.

As we learn more about what happened on the day in question and factors that caused these events, we are treated to a very interesting slice of Japanese life--what it is like to live and work in Tokyo, the relationship with her Japanese boyfriend, and a trip to lovely Sado Island in northwest Japan. The characters of Lily, the Brit expatriot bartender befriended by Lucy, is well developed and more minor characters such as the Japanese women in a string quartet that Lucy joins also add to the pleasure. The Japanese boyfriend, Teiji, is an enigma who speaks little and acts strangely, making a good match for Lucy, also a misfit.
This is a book that you dont want to put down, and and due to its short length, you can reach the surprise conclusion with much pleasure in a short time.

The only complaint I have is the unusual writing style that combines both first and third person narrative even in the same paragraph. However this does not take away from a thoroughly enjoyable first novel.

Rating:
Summary: CHILLINGLY COMPELLING
Review: Lucy Fly, the narrator and center of Susanna Jones debut novel, is a disturbing character -- and the tension with which the author builds this fact within the story is a sure indicator that there is a formidable talent at work here. Lucy, a transplanted English woman living in Tokyo, is easily seen as a bit of an oddity from the start -- the things she focuses on, the way she relates the story itself, her relationships with her (few) friends and her lover. She repeatedly refers to herself in the third person, giving an eerie feeling of detatchment to her narrative, allowing the reader to step back and watch the story unfold much like viewing a film.

The mystery involved is not, I think, given away as early in the book as another reviewer opined below -- the scenario to which that review occurred to me, but others did as well, and I felt the options were all believable enough that the tension held me until the book wound to its close.

The author's knowledge of Japanese language and culture added a lot of body to the story -- but she was careful not to let it overpower the plot. I felt involved in the novel as it unfolded, not like I was reading a travel book. The darkness at the heart of her narrator was palpable and real -- and she came across as both sypathetic and frightening.

As I mentioned, I got a very cinematic feel from the work -- if that happens, I hope it's placed in the hands of a capable director. It could be as gripping on the screen as on the printed page.

Rating:
Summary: Many, Many Problems
Review: This is a short novel that explores the thin line between love and obsession. It is a look into the life of a lonely, odd young woman named Lucy who has been arrested for murder. Lucy is, as they say in English 101, an unreliable narrator -- and it is in her voice that we are given details of the events that lead to her arrest. Her past which is ambiguous at best is revealed to the reader gently -- all the more horrifying once you realize that this is not the first dead body in her past. Also, she has the disconcerting habit of switching from the first person to the third person while telling her story (this was a clever touch as it allowed the reader to see Lucy & her culpability more objectively).

This is a story filled with complexities. And while I consider it a bit of a shocker, I do not consider it a mystery -- the murder investigation is only the backdrop of the story. This is a well-written, page-turning, psychological thriller of sorts that leaves its readers pondering its implications long after the story ends.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful, delicate thriller
Review: This story begins with the arrest of Lucy Fly, a translator living in modern-day Japan, for the murder of a fellow English woman. It is while sitting in her police cell that she narrates this wonderful story to us. It's written beautifully, and there is not a superfluous word. It's told simply, yet powerfully and is strangely moving at times. The depiction of modern-day Tokyo is excellent, and this is another example of a wonderfully writer who is able to breathe life into their setting and really make the place LIVE.

It has touches of a Barbara Vine novel about it all, in that we never really know what truly happened, but we have ideas about what could have. All the while, the real truth is hidden, and while we may have our suspicions, the writer is still able to reveal all in a way that makes the revelation seem a great shock. The plot, matching the writing style, is simple yet engrossing, and it's told brilliantly, with a wonderful mixture of flashbacks. the narrator moves between the past and present seamlessly, telling us exactly what we want to know at exactly the right time.

I loved this book. It was refreshingly different from much that i've read, and told in a wonderful style. The setting is great, the characters also. The only thing which got to me slightly was that sometimes, in her narration, Lucy referred to herself as "I" while she would occasionally she would slip into the third person and talk about herself as "Lucy". However, my brief annoyance with it was exactly that, brief. I'd reccomend this to anyone. It certainly deserved its win of the CWA Debut dagger award.