The Laws of Evening: Stories

by Mary Yukari Waters

Book Overview

In this dazzling and critically acclaimed debut collection, Mary Yukari Waters provides a rare glimpse into the heart and humanity of a society in the midst of immense change. These graceful, expertly crafted stories, set in Japan, explore the gray areas between the long shadow of World War II and the rapid advance of Westernization. The women and children who inhabit this terrain have lost husbands and fathers to the war, and ancient traditions...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743243331
• ISBN13: 9780743243339
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 177 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Startlingly memorable

The Laws of Evening is a memorable collection of poignant and moving stories. Set in Japan, they provide a compelling perspective on the experiences of different generations during World War II and its aftermath. Viewed through the eyes of grandparents, parents and children, the author explores themes of loss and separation, not only between generations, but also between those who fared differently in the war. Out of a typically edgy landscape, rife with divisions and disconnections, both big and small, the author conjures recurring instances of the painful, hesitant acknowledgment of a changed reality ("The Laws of Evening are not the Laws of Afternoon"). From this acceptance ensues a transformation of the present and a renewed, broader connection to life. My personal favorites in the collection are Seed, Shibusa and Rationing, each of which is associated with astonishing images of pain and growth that have a heart-breaking intensity to them. The writing is careful, poised and conveys with precision the nuances of feeling of the protagonists. The author skillfully creates a backdrop to the stories that is cool and restrained (sometimes to the point of eerieness) prior to the reader being swept into the visceral resonance of experience that is profound and deeply moving. This, in my opinion, is writing at its best.

Short Stories as Engaging as Novels

Other reviewers understandably and accurately comment on the way the author informs the reader on cultural and historical issues, but I believe this most remarkable masterpiece works because of the depth of its sensitivity to private human experience and its rare literary style. Not a word should be added, not a word removed.Most of the stories speak of women who have confronted loss, but this is in no way a "woman's book." I have purchased a half dozen copies to share with friends here and overseas, and several of those have subsequently purchased more copies to send to their friends. All have loved it, both men and women. My only complaint about the work is that it ended too soon. (While I myself generally prefer novels, in contrast to another reviewer I am not certain this author should be encouraged to write novels: she has developed too well the capacity to carve small fine gems.) You will be glad to have read this rarely engaging and uncommonly touching short book.

The unusual accomplishment

It was such a delight to come across this collection of short stories by Waters. One remarkable thing about this author and her works that I discovered was that she has got this keen sense of 'balance'; I wonder how many readers recognized that her effortless and insightful writing was actually doing the rarest of rare justice to bridge East and West. Her stories represented Japan and people there without destorting them into 'understandable silliness, uncanniness and unintelligiblity for America' which we often find in Western media with tons of racial prejudice. But the phenomenon only reveals the extreme low level of American comprehension of other cultures. Waters' srories presented an incredibly valuable voice that we should be just grateful to be able to access finally.The keys of success that Waters' works brought about were the authors' very neutral standing between two different cultures and languages; her handle and persepective did come from where she situated herself, free from 'white supremacy' and quite level to Asia, that kept her works from undermining new concepts and cultures of Japan eveb when she introduced in English. She never succumed to favoring Westerners just by serving their ancient exotism and narcissism. Since these are all I could observed in most English language writers including tons of lackluster Asian American writers, I was very pleased to find this author after long await and wanted to drop a line to inscribe the celebration for her unusually valueable accomplishment.The only complain I have got was the cover design. The pink silhouette of a woman of kimono had nothing to do with the book's contents. I was ashamed to see this for it reminds me of regular and potential American audiences' ignorance; are we crazy enough to expect them (japanese people) to keep on issuing the same old stereotypical signifier like kimono, geisha samurai, forever? That is why Japanese people despise American as ignorant moron of three years old. This is not only pathetic but problematic. I demand that this cover should be changed when it comes out as a paperback version.

A master of the short story collection 'with a theme'

As a writer myself, I've been trying to figure out the short story medium for several years. I usually come up short at the end of one, flip the page looking for more, and go huh? Where's the rest of it? With The Laws of Evening, such is not the case. It's a collection of stories around a central theme, the clash of cultures in post-World War II Japan. They have female protagonists and a very feminine point of view, tho the tales deal with strong and tough material: death, abandonment, fading of cultural values, war's aftermath, national guilt, individual shame...There is a strain of wistful saddness that binds these tales, each of which can stand alone. But together they take us on an elegant journey that holds together artistically like a perfectly arranged bento box lunch.

The freshest new voice in American fiction

I've been eagerly awaiting this collection since I first read Waters' story "Aftermath" in Best American Short Stories and it was well worth the wait. With a voice as convincing as it is poetic, Waters examines post war Japan with lyricism and sadness and an unabashed sense of loss. A wonderful collection and a writer to watch.