One Hundred Flowers by Genki Kawamura

We are seeing more Japanese fiction being translated into English lately. Japan is currently experiencing a boom in tourism, so perhaps this is fuelling this interest?  Of course, the translation is very important here too. The narrative's feel and the nuance of the storytelling need to convey the author's intended meaning.

One Hundred Flowers is a gentle story about the relationship between a young man, Izumi, and his ageing mother, Yuriko. Izumi is married, and he and his wife are expecting their first child. They both work in the entertainment industry, dealing with musical talent.

Yuriko is a piano teacher who leads a quiet life. Her son, whom she raised alone, visits her regularly. He starts to notice changes in her behaviour as she ages. When he was a boy, Yuriko walked out on her son for a year and left him to be looked after by his grandmother. The reasons for her disappearance have never been spoken about.  When his mother is forced to go and live in a home, Izumi discovers diaries that she wrote during that year away, which reveal a side of his mother that he never knew.

Izumi is also struggling with the idea of becoming a father, so as he learns about his mother’s deepest feelings, he relates them back to his own thoughts.

The writing style is at times simple, yet it is full of gentle observation. The smallest details are considered – Yuriko places a single flower in a vase every week. It is also a poignant look at Alzheimer’s disease, how the loss of memory affects everyone, and how fragile those memories are.

The book looks at the shifting roles between a mother and son as time goes on. Izumi becomes his mother’s carer when she needs it, and their roles are reversed.

Moving and thought-provoking, this is a lovely book.

Reviewer: Rachel White

Allen & Unwin