Lady Joker: Volume 2: The Million Copy Bestselling 'Masterpiece of Japanese Crime Fiction'

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Yet while there are acute observations of Japanese life there is also much that is recognisable about modern capitalism in Lady Joker. There is a lot of focus on the beer company and the trials and tribulations of Hinode will be recognised by many working in industries where one firm has a near monopoly of the market and remains desperate to hang onto its market share. There are multiple risks to the company, including from the kidnappers who threaten to damage their product, the opportunities for corporate exploitation by established and organised crime groups as well as the very real threat of having their finances scrutinised by the authorities. Like Don DeLillo’s Underworld, Takamura’s sprawling saga situates its crime plot in the context of corruption . . . A complex work of stunning breadth and depth by a master of the genre.” The premise sounded so good - a plan to extort money out of a beer corporation - and I was glued to the book for about the first third of it. But once it moved away from the “Lady Joker” group who commit the crime and focused on the victim of the crime, the press, and the police - it just became very boring and moved painfully slow. I can’t allow myself to not finish a book (unless it’s completely terrible) - so I continued to work my way through it although it took way longer than it should have because I just kept getting bored. Eventually I started to speed read through it just to get it done.

Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura: 9781641293945 Lady Joker, Volume 1 by Kaoru Takamura: 9781641293945

We then encounter the eldderly Monoi and his friends from the racecourse including Yo-Chan - a Zainichi (Korean), Nunokawa who struggles through life with a mentally handicapped teenage daughter, and a police sergeant called Handa. Each feels that they have been left neglected within modern Japanese society. Together they devise a plan to kidnap the president and CEO of Hinode - Kyosuke Shiroyama and then hold the company to ransom. A swarm of characters, an unorthodox structure, and slow-moving, ultimately irresistible suspense distinguish Lady Joker . . .Like some novels by James Ellroy and Marlon James, Lady Joker is wildly ambitious in scope.”This is the first volume of work published by Kaoru Takamura in the English language, although the author has published 13 novels to date in her native Japan. Lady Joker is inspired by the true life crime kidnapping an extortion by “the monster with the 21 faces” in the early 1980s which saw a targeted campaign against confectionery companies where the perpetrator(s) were never discovered. I heard so much good things about this book and was so excited to be able to final read it, but it just didn't meet my expectations. I probably wouldn't have finished it, if it wasn't an ARC. I found it far too detailed and slow. And to make matters worse that detail did nothing to build a picture of the setting or give me much understanding of Japanese culture. Nor was there atmosphere or tension. It just felt like reams and reams of useless information. It was very long and only started to get going about 90% of the way in, which confused me, as I couldn't see how they could wrap up the story. Some how I missed that this was only volume one of the story! I don't think I'll ever find out how this ends. The second half of Takamura’s compelling crime epic—following Lady Joker, Volume 1 (2021)—plumbs the connections between corporate malfeasance and social immorality.

LADY JOKER, VOLUME 1 | Kirkus Reviews LADY JOKER, VOLUME 1 | Kirkus Reviews

Finally, a note on translation. I’ve heard it said that translators’ names should be on the cover, and that honor is well deserved here. Iida and Powell prove that English holds a world of words that showcase beauty, depth and highly specific meanings—far from the banal, undifferentiated language we native speakers oft accuse it of being. The English language edition of Lady Joker shows that translation is a high art form worthy of our deep respect and appreciation—especially given the need to bring Takamura’s industry-specific terminology and precision to life. DNF at 47%. Although Lady Joker is by no means a horrible book, I just cannot motivate myself to finish it. It is boring and repetitive, the characters are neither nuanced nor interesting enough to keep me invested, and I do not see the plot going anywhere. One of Japan’s great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus. Post-war Japan. Seiji Okamura is forced to resign from Hinode Beer, Japan’s largest beer conglomerate boasting the golden Chinese phoenix as their symbol, due to alleged disloyal political connections. He writes a scathing letter, to whom it may concern, claiming that corporate behemoths value profit more than human life and hinting at political interference and corruption. He compares the position of workers to that of soldiers in the war: ‘Second-class soldiers… act as bullet shields’ (p.7). In 1994 he dies in a special care home as a defeated man, suffering from dementia.Lady Joker reads like Don DeLillo’s Underworld rewritten by James Ellroy, or perhaps LA Confidential rewritten by Don DeLillo? What I’m trying to say here is, Lady Joker is EPIC.”