Kanazawa
“Atmospheric...and shibui. A quietly captivating tale of life and art in Kanazawa. Slowly sinks its hooks in and doesn't let go.”
– Robert Whiting, author of Tokyo Junkie
In Kanazawa, the first literary novel in English to be set in this storied Japanese city, Emmitt's future plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of negotiations to purchase their dream home. Disappointed, he's surprised to discover Mirai's subtle pursuit of a life and career in Tokyo, a city he dislikes.
Harmony is further disrupted when Emmitt's search for a more meaningful life in Japan leads him to quit an unsatisfying job at a local university. In the fallout, he finds himself helping his mother-in-law translate Kanazawa's most famous author, Izumi Kyoka, into English.
While continually resisting Mirai's efforts to move to Tokyo, Emmitt becomes drawn into the mysterious death thirty years prior of a mutual friend of Mirai's parents. It is only when he and his father-in-law climb the mountain where the man died that he learns the somber truth, and in turn discovers what the future holds for him and his wife.
Packed with subtle literary allusion and closely observed nuance, with an intimacy of emotion inexorably tied both to the cityscape and Japan's mountainous terrain, Kanazawa reflects the mood of Japanese fiction in a fresh, modern incarnation.
About the Author
David Joiner made his first trip to Japan in 1991 – a five-month study program in Hokkaido – and in 1994 moved for the first of seven times to Vietnam. In Vietnam he has made his home in such places as Hanoi, Bien Hoa, Saigon, and Mui Ne. In Japan, where he has also moved numerous times, he has called Sapporo, Akita, Fukui, Tokyo, and most recently the western Japanese city of Kanazawa home.
In addition to his novels, David's short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, diaCritics, Phoebe Journal, The Madison Review, Ontario Review, Presence, Whiskey Blot, and Echoes: Writers in Kyoto 2017, among other publications, and his dabbling in playwriting has resulted in a professional production of his full-length play Man, Woman, Dog.
What Others Have Said
“A graceful novel of a graceful city. David Joiner’s Kanazawa interweaves four love affairs, echoing the fantastical writings of the early 20th century writer Izumi Kyoka. At the story’s heart lies the enigmatic bond between Emmitt’s wife’s parents, with a secret only revealed in the novel’s dramatic climax. The other three love affairs, with their own enigmas, are Emmitt’s own - for his wife Mirai, for his adoptive city of Kanazawa, and for his muse Kyoka.”
- Alex Kerr, author of Lost Japan and Finding the Heart Sutra
“Atmospheric...and shibui. A quietly captivating tale of life and art in Kanazawa. Slowly sinks its hooks in and doesn't let go.”
- Robert Whiting, author of Tokyo Junkie
“The grand old city of Kanazawa, its lush historic environs and rich cultural legacy form the setting of this compelling narrative. Kanazawa weaves an intriguing story of a Japanese family worthy of the best of Japanese literature.”
- Roger Pulvers, author of Liv
“In Kanazawa, David Joiner has written a book not unlike its titular city, with great historical depths hidden beneath a deceptively tranquil surface. A story of misunderstandings, miscommunications and family secrets centered around a marriage that seems doomed to fall apart under the weight of unspoken resentments. Above all, Kanazawa drips with a sense of place, the setting much more than just a back drop to the action; Joiner shows that there are plenty of stories taking place outside the vortex of Tokyo. Tense, moving, and subtly gripping, Kanazawa is a welcome addition to the books-about-Japan shelf.”
- Iain Maloney, author of The Only Gaijin in the Village
“There is a zen mastery in the writing here, a complete control over the characters and story, but not enough to dry it out. The few surprises that change the characters’ directions are gentle, minor, but fascinating in how they ripple through [Kanazawa]. There is a bit of Henry James here, where progression and movement are released as if through a sluice, gently raising the water-level so as to allow the narration just the room it needs to maneuver into your subconscious.”
- Erik Raschke, author of To the Mountain and The Book of Samuel
“[Joiner] engages readers’ senses as a way of introducing his beautiful surroundings, describing sedate machiya homes, carafes of hot sake, aromas of temple incense, the prick of a snail shell on a lip. By keeping his sentences and structure simple, Joiner allows his decidedly Western prose to reflect a sense of Asian place without making Asia seem “exotic,” especially important in a plot that centers on an American husband wanting to stay in Kanazawa while his Asian wife seeks a life in Tokyo. More important, however, is the author’s deep study of and devotion to the works of Kyōka Izumi, a pre-war Japanese novelist…”
- Bethanne Patrick, Literary Hub
“Kanazawa produces with words a similar effect to wandering around an old city; even if it’s unfamiliar territory, the texture of the textual space that David Joiner has created thrums with this history as the plot slowly and deliberately unfolds…Joiner’s patient attention to the interiority of his characters and a strong sense of place create a moving portrayal of the messiness of relationships and the ways that all the things we hope to bury in the past stay with us.”
- Reid Bartholomew, World Literature Today
“Kanazawa isn’t just a story about an American man in Japan and his wife. It is a tribute to the city of Kanazawa…Joiner’s passion for the places and authors within the novel is obvious.”
- ABasketofWords.com
“[Kanazawa] is both a sensitive portrayal of the struggles of an international marriage and a paean to the city in which it is set.”
- Iain Maloney, The Japan Times
“[A]n enjoyable read that moves along quite well and gives a satisfying sense of this corner of Japan.”
- M.A. Orthofer, The Complete Review
“In Kanazawa, David Joiner delivers a slow-burning family drama reminiscent of a film by Yasujiro Ozu or Hirokazu Koreeda…Each scene is quietly painted and, even in distress, holds some comfort…[Joiner’s writing] treats language as sacred and uses it with delicacy and respect.”
- Tina deBellegarde, Books on Asia
“[A]n homage to Japanese culture, the city of Kanazawa, and the Kanazawan writer Izumi Kyoka.”
- Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, Foreword Reviews
“Joiner manages to craft a nuanced story…[It’s] a Kawabata novel, The Sound of the Mountain, that comes to mind when reading Joiner’s work…Kanazawa is an enjoyable look at an interesting city and the problems faced when people have different expectations.”
- TonysReadingList.wordpress.com
“Ephemerality is exactly the intangible essence that Joiner mystifies and sentimentalizes in his writing – a cultural quality that few non-Japanese writers understand so well.”
- Ella Kelleher, Asia Media International
“The greatest strength of the book is the way it unfurls, slowly but surely, like tendrils of warmth from a cup of sake that spread from your hands to your soul...Joiner has achieved an incredible feat in making a story whose lifeforce is art seem so effortless and devoid of artifice...the novel is the literary equivalent of superimposing a map of the human condition over a map of the city of Kanazawa. It is a story to come back to time and time again, since each reading can reveal a new layer, a new motif, a new passage that rings out beautiful and true.”
- Viktorija Blazeska, MyMurmuringBones.wordpress.com