A quiet life - Kenzaburo Oe

Ma-Chan is the narrator of A Quiet Life, the moving story of an unusual family. She and her younger brother have grown up in the shadow of a brilliant father and brother, and a mother who had devoted her life to the care of them both. Their father is a celebrated and fascinating novelist and their brother, though mentally handicapped, possesses an almost magical gift for musical composition. They are devoted to their work and to each other, almost to the exclusion of the rest of the family. Ma-Chan's life changes when her father leaves Japan to accept a visiting professorship in the States. At twenty, she suddenly finds herself the head of the household, having to redefine the patterns of their family life.

'O is a supremely gifted writer, able to "fictionalize" the most significant elements of his life as can few others, and his work has enormous impact' Washington Post

'Those who recognize the essentially exploratory nature of fiction, its restless attempt to make the truth real by inventing stories, will find O a write of uncommon interest' Scotsman

'A new pinnacle in post-war Japanese fiction' Yukio Mishima

'There is in his "grotesque realism" a powerful poetry which communicates across the boundaries of languages and cultures, a poetry full of fresh observations and concise images' Nobel Prize citation