Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales [1998] by Yoko Ogawa and translated [2013] by Steven Snyder reminds me of the publications under the title Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Each pub would have a series of strange short stories that at the end of each tale-depending on the quality of the writing-I'd say to myself something like "that's strange," or "that's wierd," or after awhile "saw that coming." However, Ogawa's Revenge leave its readers with more. The stories taken together show the mysterious, macabre and sometimes murderous links that hold a society together and could be considered part of the definition of community itself. Although The Washington Post Book World's review compares Ogawa's book to Haruki Murakami's writing, the tales in this book seem to have more in common with Ryu Murakami's work and the whole violent genre of Japanese noir fiction. In its own way, Revenge creates a dark reality that shows why Japanese noir fiction makes sense. I encourage you to read it.
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