Lane Dunlop's superb translation of Fumiko Hayashi's most celebrated postwar novel presents a striking portrait of a woman struggling amidst the social dislocations of the era. Floating Clouds captures the sense of rupture that pervaded personal trajectories and reflects the capacity of individuals to reconstruct hope and meaning among the debris of broken dreams.
Joan Ericson, Colorado College, author ... Read moreof Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women's Literature Floating Clouds, one of Fumiko Hayashi's late masterpieces, draws from the store of her own remarkable experiences in its depiction of the chaotic, uncertain, wounded worlds of postwar Japan. With a poignantly simple prose style, gracefully translated by Lane Dunlop, she captures the tumult of the time, the arrogance of colonialism, and the impotence of defeat.
Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Lost Leaves: Women Writers of Meiji Japan The novel effectively conveys the troubling ramifications of the Japanese occupation of Indochina during World War II. Library Journal It is fitting that [Dunlop] give us this important novel in its first trustworthy and readable English edition. The Japan Times A remarkable book.
Scott Bryan Wilson Rain Taxi A sprawling portrait of Japan just after the end of World War II... Lane Dunlop's translation is excellent.
Janine Beichman The Japan Journal [A] powerful and moving work.
M.A.Orthofer The Complete Review Show Less