Death by Water

Paul Boehmer effectively delivers the latest title in Oe's series about his literary alter ego, Kogito Choko. Choko is trying to piece together the circumstances of his father's death and complete his magnum opus while juggling the weight of regret, the need for clarity, and the singular power of family ties. Boehmer uses distinct tones and emphasis to navigate the collection of Japanese names and terms; his cadence, however, takes a bit of getting used to. The care he gives his enunciation is necessary with such content, of course, but the result is sometimes a bit stilted. None of this actually makes the title unenjoyable; it simply reminds listeners that they're listening to a text in translation. N.J.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

August 3, 2015
Layered and reflexive, Nobel winner Oe’s (The Changeling) novel concerns itself with an elderly writer, Kogito Choko, whose inability to write “the drowning novel,” a fictional account of his father’s death by drowning, threatens both his health and his plans to provide for his family after his death. As a child, Choko—then called Kogii—witnessed his father’s ill-fated boat trip in the Shikoku forest region of his childhood. When he revisits the forests and delves into the area’s history and folklore at his sister Asa’s invitation, he discovers not only other witnesses to his father’s voyage—including a nationalist former disciple of his dad’s—but that “the materials in the red leather trunk” required for his research were destroyed by his mother long ago. Bereft, Choko finds himself cooperating with an experimental theater troupe, who wish to adapt his body of work for the stage using the visionary Unaiko’s “throwing the dead dogs” method, whereupon meta-narrative discussion and the throwing of stuffed dogs occur on stage. Choko’s disappointment over the uselessness of the red leather trunk’s contents drives him to lash out at his adult, intellectually disabled composer son, Akari, and when his wife, Chikashi, undergoes treatment for a serious illness, she’s most concerned about this unprecedented rift between father and son. Told in echoing and overlapping accounts of conversations, telephone calls, and stage performances, Oe’s deceptively tranquil idiom scans the violent history of postwar Japan and its present-day manifestations, in the end finding redemption. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency.