Izumi Suzuki

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Thrillist, The Millions, Frieze, and Metropolis Japan The first English language publication of the work of Izumi Suzuki, a legend of Japanese science fiction and a countercultural icon At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki's singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on. Translated by Polly Barton, Sam Bett, David Boyd, Daniel Joseph, Aiko Masubuchi, and Helen O'Horan.

Stories

Terminal Boredom

"Born from the obsessive and highly idiosyncratic mind of a cult figure of the Japanese underground, these stories borrow themes and subjects familiar to readers of Philip K. Dick and fuses them with a conflicted, tortured, and intense imagination"--

Clara Gauthier

I felt awkward, like I didn’t know what to say. I always get that way when I’m talking with my mother. 

Nikola Mihajlovic

I believe this book was made for me. The sheer audacity of its characters, the unlikeable narrators who seem too obsessed with their own world, the torrential and disturbing melancholy running through the lines, paragraphs, and pages—all of which made sense to me; all of which made me feel seen. It's disturbing, eerie, and unfortunately, quite similar to the reality we are living in. I like it for the same reasons it scares the hell out of me. And, I think that's a pretty impressive element of this book.

This is one of the books that really ignited something in me about reading, about science fiction and dystopia, about how the world can be so fucked up even if it's just plain old reality in a different time. Izumi Suzuki really portrayed our current days in an eccentric, creepy font. This collection of stories made me want to run back to books, to find solace in such. I've missed reading and finding books that just hit—and I guess I'm glad I didn't miss out on this one.

I'm eager to read more from Izumi Suzuki, now that I've got a taste of what her writing is like.

Notable favorites: You May Dream, Forgotten, Terminal Boredom

I believe this book was made for me. The sheer audacity of its characters, the unlikeable narrators who seem too obsessed with their own world, the torrential and disturbing melancholy running through the lines, paragraphs, and pages—all of which made sense to me; all of which made me feel seen. It's disturbing, eerie, and unfortunately, quite similar to the reality we are living in. I like it for the same reasons it scares the hell out of me. And, I think that's a pretty impressive element of this book.

This is one of the books that really ignited something in me about reading, about science fiction and dystopia, about how the world can be so fucked up even if it's just plain old reality in a different time. Izumi Suzuki really portrayed our current days in an eccentric, creepy font. This collection of stories made me want to run back to books, to find solace in such. I've missed reading and finding books that just hit—and I guess I'm glad I didn't miss out on this one.

I'm eager to read more from Izumi Suzuki, now that I've got a taste of what her writing is like.

Notable favorites: You May Dream, Forgotten, Terminal Boredom

Lindy

Embedded within the Japanese counterculture of the 70s and 80s, Izumi Suzuki's writings are part of what would later be identified the second wave of Japanese science fiction, in which Japanese SF began to differentiate itself from American influence. This volume presents a selection of her work translated into English for the first time. The publisher's description on the copyright page mentions Philip K. Dick, and I'd say that's a much more apt comparison than the description on here which includes Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami. Luckily for me, old science fiction is my favorite science fiction.

The main themes presented here are playacting society and addiction. The overall best story is "Night Picnic," in which the last four Earthlings of a once populous settlement (Mom, Dad, Sis, and Junior) do their best to continually reproduce the veneer of civilization. It's punchy, has a nice build up of tension, and I enjoyed the dialog. The other two stories I liked were "Terminal Boredom" (in which chronically unemployed and generally disaffected young people seek ways to feel something, anything) and "You May Dream" (in which a woman is slated to go into cryogenic sleep as part of population control program and so transfers her dreams into the consciousness of her friend who has no core self-identity and secretly loathes her). 

The book lacks an introduction, biographical note or even list of the stories and their original publication dates and venues, which would have been appreciated. It was probably also a mistake leading with "Women and Women," which one of the weaker entries in the anthology. Every story has a different translator, and the differences between their translation choices are apparent at at times jarring.

Definitely worth checking out if you're a sci-fi fan.

depressed feminist sci-fi, felt so contemporary that i didn’t realize the author died in 86 until the end. the stories created such an immense sense of loneliness that i truly believe suzuki predicted the future with these stories. 

azliana aziz

elegantly weird-brilliant. the fact that these stories were written in 70s just absolutely mindfuck. there should be no boundaries and limitations in sf and terminal boredom proves this in astonishing blasts of thrill and fun while just playing around with so much ideas and themes. amazing.

Dark and twisty sci Fi short stories. Like any short story collection some are better than others. They read as if they're 

 contemporary, so I was surprised to learn that Izumi Suzuki died in 1986.

Laura Hilliger

Dark and twisty sci Fi short stories. Like any short story collection some are better than others. They read as if they're extremely contemporary, so I was surprised to learn that Izumi Suzuki died in 1986.

charisa

hmmm i liked "you may dream" despite its dispirited, nihilistic narrator, but i wasn't crazy about any of the other stories. i think futuristic sci-fi is difficult to pull off in general, but especially when paired with minimalism, it just... doesn't work. these stories could have benefitted from tighter narrative structures; they felt like bare-bones ideas haphazardly stitched together into something reminiscent of a plot. i like my fair share of minimalist writing (see: banana yoshimoto and others), but usually there's an exchange of fastidious description for evocative atmosphere. here, there wasn't even that. lots of potential and advanced ideas, especially considering it was written in the 70s! just subpar execution. would recommend chi ta wei's The Membranes for something stronger and more compelling.

Shona Tiger

Thank you to #NetGalley and to the Publisher, Verso, for this ARC.

Oh. An absolute no from me 😓 Not going to make some kind of witty remark on the title, but, basically, you know.

TW: suicide, GBV, etc.

dimmie

the 5th story was my least favourite, the last one my most. all very absurd and black mirror -esque. refreshing.

some stories were definitely compelling (particularly the first and last one) but the others were ... aimless, it felt? wasn't super engrossed  

Katie Chua

finn

2.5

i think some of the stories we're really good and thought-provoking, especially That Old Seaside Club and Terminal Boredom (the short story), but i guess in general this just wasn't my thing.

Anyaconda

I'm usually not a big fan of short story collections, but I love Japanese/Asian fiction so I had to pick this one up and I was positively surprised. The stories were odd, thoughtful and some were unsettling even that left an interesting "aftertaste" for the lack of a better word.
I can't believe that those were written almost 30 years ago, because the stories felt very dystopian and futuristic to me. I do enjoy "what if..." stories.
Some I enjoyed more, some parts I enjoy less, but altogether I can recommend this to fans of Sayaka Murata or even Murakami.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Terminal Boredom Stories

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