My Name is Sei Shonagon
by Jan Blensdorf
Vintage $101
The real Sei Shonagon lived a Pillow book of thoughts about her life in 10th-century Japan. Australian Jan Blensdorf's novel isn't about the historical figure, but rather about a woman in contemporary Japan who also writes about small episodes from her life. The woman's father was an American who married a Japanese woman. After her parents died, she lived with her strict, tradition-bound uncle in Japan. When the book opens she is in hospital, narrating her life story to her unborn child. She recalls her upbringing, her failed marriage and her time as the owner of an incense shop in Tokyo, where she would counsel her weary customers with wisdom from ancient Japan. This gives her the opportunity to offer reflections on Japanese history, customs, and tradition, and the contrast to the encroaching modern world.