Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Japanese by Kalau Almony

This is a dark short novel that relates the coming of age of 17 year old Toma as he tries to avoid the fate of becoming like his abusive father. He lives in a hot and unpleasantly humid village by a polluted river with his father, who is a fisherman. His mother has recently fled further down river to escape her husband’s violence, and now makes a living gutting fish with the hook that replaces her hand, lost in a fire bombing.

It’s a dark premise indeed, only heightened by Toma struggling to deal with his emerging sexual and violent inclinations.
It’s a tale of family conflict, with too much going on to be dealt with in just 80 pages. Tanaka has the skill though to make what might seem unpleasant reading become a lot less demanding. Ultimately, the novel poses questions about the nature of good and evil, and the fine line that can often separate them. And of how that though the world outside may seem fraught with violence, it can be more of a threat from within.

My GoodReads score 3 / 5