A Man

By: Keiichiro Hirano, Eli K. P. William - translator

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

A man follows another man's trail of lies in a compelling psychological story about the search for identity, by Japan's award-winning literary sensation Keiichiro Hirano in his first novel to be translated into English.

Akira Kido is a divorce attorney whose own marriage is in danger of being destroyed by emotional disconnect. With a midlife crisis looming, Kido's life is upended by the reemergence of a former client, Rié Takemoto. She wants Kido to investigate a dead man - her recently deceased husband, Daisuké. Upon his death she discovered that he’d been living a lie. His name, his past, his entire identity belonged to someone else, a total stranger. The investigation draws Kido into two intriguing mysteries: finding out who Rié's husband really was and discovering more about the man he pretended to be. Soon, with each new revelation, Kido will come to share the obsession with - and the lure of - erasing one life to create a new one.

In A Man, winner of Japan’s prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature, Keiichiro Hirano explores the search for identity, the ambiguity of memory, the legacies with which we live and die, and the reconciliation of who you hoped to be with who you’ve actually become.

©2018 Keiichiro Hirano. Translation © 2020 by Eli K. P. William. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Beautiful

I really appreciated the insight of Japanese history and the Korean racial histories. With all that is happening in the U.S. right now around historical racial issues it is interesting to learn about challenges in other cultures. The story is very absorbing and the exploration of the subject fascinating. The philosophical contemplations and relational struggles are masterfully done. I would like to read additional works by this author. Thank you for bringing this to the English language. The performance by Nishii is terrific. Handles so many voices and personalities in nuanced and expert ways. I really enjoyed this book as I worked on putting in a new floor and cabinets in my kitchen.

Sutil

Poetic . Philosophical. Beautifully written. Entreating cinematographic description . Contemplative. sincere out pour of emotions
Highly recommend

Definitely recommended

I found the author pulled off the double-mystery angle here well. Main character, not part of either situation directly, came across well enough that the details of his own personal life were relavant for me. Had to pay attention to the audio to keep from losing the plot; in that respect, reading print might have been easier, especially with Japanese names! However, Brian Nishii's specialization in Japanese terms works well with him overall as narrator. Translation so efficient that I got the feeling it had been written in English in the first place.

Wonderful

A thoughtful story that takes its time enveloping you in the lives of memorable characters as it unwinds a mystery involving love, loss and the search for identify.

Superb narration as well

Intriguing

This is my first book by Japanese writer in English translation. Audible narrator does good job pronouncing Japanese names and places naturally.

Interesting story, good narration

This was an interesting story, somewhat hard to relate to if you don't understand Japanese culture and the pressures to conform and be accepted by society.

WTF... it's so good

I love this story so much. The narrator was also top notch.
I'm recommending this to everyone I know

Engaging and enlightening

The plot takes you through some twist and turns that keep you thinking... about the characters and about life in general. Listen and enjoy.

I enjoyed it a lot

Wow! I was entertained all over the story, though it has its lows and a few details that didn't make sense. It's beautifully written and I connected with the story. I also appreciate the good performance.

Superb, delightful complex storytelling

This is my first novel translated from the original Japanese. At first, I wasn't sure where the narrator was leading me into as we "walked into a bar". Eavesdropping? Snooping? Hirano has a way of drawing us in into the characters of this story and weaving them into an amazing tale of perception, identity, self-doubts, dreams, and redemption. But it's more than that. It's more than that. It has art, architecture, literature, jazz, social commentary, history lessons, family feuds, inner struggles, late-night reflexions, thoughtful side-note vignettes... Very enjoyable, a delight to read.

Not my style

Found all the intricate detail of the mundane a bit slow. Perhaps that is a Japanese style of writing, but failed to hold my interest.

Too far?

Is it the translation, the hard to remember names, the subject, the at times odd reader inflections, that made this a disconnected story for me? in its emotional flatness it was disturbing but I remained unmoved. Perhaps I didn't fully understand, or perhaps 'lost in translation'?

A picture from an exhibition

Really nice book, the story is combination of psychology, crime, existentialism and fine art.
I enjoyed very much.

Boring

I struggled to finish this audiobook as I found it very, very boring. I catched myself multiple times not really listening and my mind wondering somewhere else.