A Certain Mr. Takahashi

By Ann Ireland

Book Overview

Winner of the 1985 Seal Books First Novel Award and of the Books in Canada First Novel Award To Mrs. Hopper, Yoshi Takahashi may be just another name from her daughters' past, but for Jean and her sister, Colette, he stands for much more. Years ago, Mr. Takahashi moved into their Toronto neighbourhood and sent the adolescent lives of Jean and Colette into a tailspin. They weren't content merely to befriend the Japanese pianist - in their infatuation they sought to mirror his life as closely as possible. The enchantment lingers into adult life in ways both sisters are reluctant to recognize. This weekend they have been invited to an extravagant family celebration in Victoria, B.C. As the party gains momentum, so does the tension between the sisters. As before, the larger-than-life Mr. Takahashi casts his spell. Originally published in 1985, A Certain Mr. Takahashi won the coveted Seal First Novel Award and the Books in Canada/W.H. Smith First Novel Award.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1550024566
• ISBN13: 9781550024562
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Begins like a Harpers story but ends like a Rhys novel

One's first impression upon reading the author bio that describes her studying Creative Writing and winning awards is that this is going to be one dull book. The first chapter with its fluid prose and oh-so-precise language doesn't dissuade you from it, nor does the fact that the author constantly switches between first person and third person narrative. These all seem like neat tricks rather than the stuff of literature.But somewhere around page 50 this book turns into a very well-crafted novel of obsession and relationships and how some relationships may have an effect years later, no matter how much of the relationship was grounded in reality and how much was fantasy. Two sisters -- Jean and Colette -- share an obsession with their neighbor, a world renown pianist. So obsessed are they that they learn Japanese and try imitating everything about him. Set in this past and in the present where Jean suspects Colette of actually sleeping with Yoshi, the pianist, the reader gets a vivid depiction of sisterhood and failed love affairs as well as thwarted ambitions. Colette is married to an idiot (although I'm not sure if it is the writer's purpose to portray that character so shabbily) while Jean is losing faith in music.There are some definite problems with the book. It feels too autobiographical (her second book is also about a woman getting over an older lover/obsession) and there are parts that seem like cop-outs and the characters tend to be those boring upper middle class people who are fashionable but just a little too well-scrubbed to make much of an impression. Despite those flaws, this book is an intriguing puzzlebox opening up the challenges of the human psyche on par wtih the works of Jean Rhys.