Frank Deis
Frank Deis
Some years ago I found the movie, "Fear and Trembling" by Amelie Nothomb.
She was a Belgian girl from an important family who I think was the daughter of the ambassador to Japan, and thus grew up there until she was five and her family moved away. This early exposure gave her a great advantage in learning the very difficult Japanese language so when she finished her University education she moved back to Tokyo and eventually landed a job at a major corporation there.
Unfortunately the work environment there allowed her immediate boss to make her life a living Hell in various ways and she suffered through a year at this corporation until she finally resigned and left the country. This makes for a rather caustic but entertaining story available either as a novel or on DVD. The phrase "Fear and Trembling" describes the proper demeanor in an audience with the Emperor.
For quite some while this was my entire knowledge about her time in Japan. The film is quite close to the novel, but at least in the novel she mentions that she had a satisfying and interesting life outside the corporation which allowed her to survive the horrors that she was subjected to there.
For my birthday, my son's girlfriend (a smart girl) found the OTHER Tokyo novel by Amelie Nothomb, which in English is called "Tokyo Boyfriend." I think in French it is "Ni d'Eva ni d'Adam." This is a much happier book and casts an entirely different light on the first novel. I am so glad I read it. Actually it is short enough and gripping enough that I could have read it in one day. I was disciplined enough to stretch it out to two days. I wish I were still reading it, it is a lovely book.
ANYWAY. Recommendation. All of the above.
Frank
She was a Belgian girl from an important family who I think was the daughter of the ambassador to Japan, and thus grew up there until she was five and her family moved away. This early exposure gave her a great advantage in learning the very difficult Japanese language so when she finished her University education she moved back to Tokyo and eventually landed a job at a major corporation there.
Unfortunately the work environment there allowed her immediate boss to make her life a living Hell in various ways and she suffered through a year at this corporation until she finally resigned and left the country. This makes for a rather caustic but entertaining story available either as a novel or on DVD. The phrase "Fear and Trembling" describes the proper demeanor in an audience with the Emperor.
For quite some while this was my entire knowledge about her time in Japan. The film is quite close to the novel, but at least in the novel she mentions that she had a satisfying and interesting life outside the corporation which allowed her to survive the horrors that she was subjected to there.
For my birthday, my son's girlfriend (a smart girl) found the OTHER Tokyo novel by Amelie Nothomb, which in English is called "Tokyo Boyfriend." I think in French it is "Ni d'Eva ni d'Adam." This is a much happier book and casts an entirely different light on the first novel. I am so glad I read it. Actually it is short enough and gripping enough that I could have read it in one day. I was disciplined enough to stretch it out to two days. I wish I were still reading it, it is a lovely book.
ANYWAY. Recommendation. All of the above.
Frank