Il Giappone immaginario ed il Giappone "come è", l'amore e l'impossibilità dell'amore. Una manciata di pagine di valore, fra illusione e realtà.
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Generally speaking, I prefer reading books in their original language, which for this book would have been Dutch, but as this book was a special offer, and I cannot buy books in Dutch in China, I took this French edition.

I have not come round to reading all of Nooteboom's work. Much of his work consists of travelogues, especially in Spain and the Far East. His novels are often set in the Netherlands, and are experimental or involving Magical Realism. Nooteboom has spent a lot of time in Germany, especially Berlin, and written several books about that city, which are neatly stacked on my shelves / TBR pile. For a long time, Nooteboom was one of my favourite authors, but recently, I have come to realize that especially his writing about Spain is superb, notably De omweg naar Santiago -- deeply felt and very knowledgeable, while much of his other writing remains superficial.

And so it seems with this very thin novella, Mokusei!. There is a hefty volume of essays on travel in the Far East, Nooteboom's visits to Japan and other countries in the region (on my TBR pile). This novella was written after his visit to Japan. The story did not interest me, and the book lacked the poetic feel of Japanese or other Japanese inspired literature. ( )