AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: Turning Japanese by David Galef ISBN: 1-57962-010-8 Publisher: Permanent Press (NY) Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 1
Summary: Wrong Turn
Comment: I wish to enlighted interested readers to an important point: there is another book on this subject by the same name, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, by David Mura. Vive la difference! While Galef's attempt at the gaijin novel may be entertaining to those who don't know better, it is hardly the best book on the subject; it may not even be an okay one. Mura's book, on the other hand, is a masterpiece. No wonder. Mura is one of Japanese-America's foremost poet/authors. He wrote the book while working in Japan on a literary fellowship. It is a masterful work of creative nonfiction, relentlessly honest and achingly authentic. Couldn't put it down. And I've read so many books on the same subject that I'm beginning to think that I'M turning Japanese. I also lived there for 13 years, working in the word biz, so I know whereof I speak. Please read Mura's book. Then decide for yourself.

Rating: 5
Summary: You too can turn Japanese!
Comment: A "just-about-as-accurate-as-it-gets" account of a young man who comes to Asia to fight off the post-graduation blues, discover himself, and get away from the baggage of home. Main character Cricket Collins comes over on a teaching internship, loses his job, finds a new one, gets over his culture shock and actually learns something about Japan. He picks up a nice girl, somehow remains faithful to her, then tries to sort out his life as he acclimatizes to his new world. I found this book quite accurate in its depictions of the "foreign ghetto" of English teachers in Japan, namely the nutty types that end up here as well as the types of situations that they get into. Some of Cricket's experience mirrored mine in an eerie way, none less than the fact that he ended up living in the same town that I do! The author's style is satisfying and reads well, and he renders the language of Japanese characters in the book quite comfortably for the most part - something that would be quite tricky for someone who hasn't lived for a long time in Japan to do. Trips to Korea, China, and New York highlight the book and keep it interesting. With the last chapter of the book, the author veers wildly in his intent and changes the course of the novel drastically by dealing with the Cricket's ideosyncracies quite directly - I am pretty sure I understand what he was trying to do and find it quite amazing, a rare effort in the field of literature and I admire his dedication to his vision although it may give other readers whiplash. A new second-to-last chapter set in America could have softened the blow, but I'm not really complaining. This book has probably only been read by five or six people, a real shame.

Rating: 5
Summary: The best expatriate-in-Japan book ever!
Comment: Forget Bicycle Days, forget Ransom, this is the only novel that captures what it is *really* like to live as an expatriate in Japan. I've lived in Japan for over 8 years and believe me, this is the only one that gets it right. Galef has created the archetype for the disillusioned English teacher in Japan and his name is Cricket Collins. Don't read that horrible Dave Barry Does Japan book, read this. Highly entertaining and informative. Buy one for all your friends who are thinking about living in Japan.@