Takeshi Kaiko (1930–1989)

1968. Dos antiguos amantes se reencuentran fuera de Japón, su país de origen, diez años después de haber puesto fin a su relación, y juntos viajan a Alemania en lo que no se sabe si es un paréntesis en sus respectivas derivas existenciales o una manera de retomar los vínculos perdidos y encontrar alguna clave que les desvele algo de sí mismos y del pasado compartido.

Él, reportero-escritor que ha sido testigo del caos y la guerra en el extranjero, es una suerte de Oblómov, de Hombre que Duerme, entregado a la indolencia, el inmovilismo y el placer. Lleva una vida letárgica, brumosa; los días se suceden en una espera sin objeto, conformando un paisaje confuso y gris, en el que va apagándose con indiferencia.

Ella, después de un largo periplo que la ha llevado a trabajar como mecanógrafa, vender cigarros en un cabaret, rechazar una propuesta matrimonial de un joven físico nuclear inglés y superar un romance con un lingu?ista americano de origen germano, está a punto de obtener su doctorado en una prestigiosa universidad alemana y emprender así su sueño de desarrollar una carrera académica en Occidente, lejos de los sinsabores y el desprecio que vivió en Japón.

Y en ese punto del camino vuelven a verse, diez años más viejos: desorientados, desarraigados, desamparados. Durante un caluroso verano de sexo y tinieblas vitales –ella tratando de reconciliarse con la cultura del país natal, del que salió huyendo; él, atravesado por el desasosiego y la entropía, viéndose reducido a una masa casi inerte de sensaciones embotadas–, intentarán reconfigurar su relación y no naufragar definitivamente, buscando algún sentido que los ancle en un mundo convulso, vertiginoso, incomprensible.… (mere)

Into a Black Sun, is a somewhat fictionalized account of a Japanese reporters time in Saigon and as a frontline reporter in 1964. There's no real point of view, the Vietnam War is just something that is happing and the reporter is merely experiencing in his limited capacity. There are no judgments about the rights and wrongs of the war or any of its actors. Its just an account of the South Vietnamese and their American counterparts waging a largely apathetic war for reasons that are lost on the general population.

The book was most interesting when discussing the war with the soldiers and the officers, even the discussions with other journalists about the direction of the war was insightful. But for me the second half dragged when the narrator started discussing his everyday life of drinking, eating, sleeping, and screwing in Saigon. It was all just a wash. Maybe that was the point. I really can't tell if this novel ever really had a point, other then to relate a totally neutral view of a pointless war.… (mere)

I've always enjoyed reading war books but haven't read one in a while and I loved the idea of reading about the Vietnam War again especially from such an interesting perspective. I've read quite a bit from the American perspective having read Tim O'Brien's novels (which I really enjoyed) but this was new as it is written by a Japanese correspondent, a country neutral to the war.

Kaiko writes about his time as a correspondent from 1964 to 1965 where he worked both on the front line and away, in Saigon. The book seems to be labeled as historical fiction but with his experiences leading the story. I really enjoyed the neutrality of the book; there was no real perspective on whether the war was good or bad, necessary or not, and was really just Kaiko's observations on the world around him and how the war affects his companions.

In one instance he is asked about the Japanese opinion of the war in which he does share at how they find the war to be unfair due to the difference in power on the two fronts. But as a whole Kaiko is very careful to not insert his opinion as is demanded from a correspondent.

In whole a great book, incredibly well-written and really engaging. My leaving off a start comes from the fact that I wish he had spoken about his time when he was detained from the Viet Cong, a fact that was given in his biography.… (mere)