Details

ISBN-10: 4770030045
ISBN-13: 9784770030047
Publisher: Kodansha
Publish Date: 12/09/2005
Dimensions: 8.38" L, 5.56" W, 0.55" H

Shadow Family

Translator: Juliet Winters Carpenter

Paperback

Price: $11.95

Overview

In Shadow Family, Miyuki Miyabe draws readers into the amorphous world of Internet chat rooms-a world of people from all walks of life attracted by the possibility of being whomever they want to be.
Police investigating the murder of a middle-aged office worker discover e-mail correspondence on the victim’s computer that indicates he had been a regular participant in an Internet chat room, as the “father” in a fantasy “family.” Meanwhile, a female detective is assigned to protect the dead man’s real-life daughter who complains of being stalked. As the real daughter confronts her father’s alternate life, we are pulled into a psychological drama that pits reality and illusion against each other in astonishing ways.

Reading Guide available

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Reviews

."..The theatrically constructed plot is soon swirling with the naked emotions of unattached, deeply unhappy people eager to express their yearnings for an idealized family life no longer possible in the fractured social structure of modern-day Japan." -The New York Times Book Review
"[Miyuki Miyabe's] true subject is the mystery of modern Japanese identity . . . she is a master of small gestures, the precise geometry of meaning as it moves between people . . . a subtle observer of a country on the cusp. Her American readers can only hope for more chances to see through her eyes." -The Los Angeles Times
"Nuclear family dystopia is at the center of Miyuki Miyabe's Shadow Family, a smartly observant police procedural about two Tokyo murders linked to the Internet . . . . Shadow Family blossoms into both a suspenseful murder mystery and an astute running commentary on the parallel cyberspace world inside which millions of people now spend so much of their time." -The Washington
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Details

ISBN-10: 4770030045
ISBN-13: 9784770030047
Publisher: Kodansha
Publish Date: 12/09/2005
Dimensions: 8.38" L, 5.56" W, 0.55" H
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