Reviews and Comments

20th century mankind discovers another species on Earth that is capable of civilization, but it needs some assistance from us. It is going to get messy.

Almost an antique, this story was written in 1936 and may initially give the sense of not having aged very gracefully. Taken as a whole, it proved to be a refreshing and balanced vehicle for delivering a lorry-load of deadpan black humour with a relentless focus on ethical, economical and geopolitical norms that have not lost any currency with the antics of current times. The author makes use of multiple perspectives to put flesh on the bones of a wide cast of players, and quite casually denies the reader of any heroes whatsoever as events inexorably move from quotidian to epic.

Initially the pace seems a bit slow, but this relatively short book suddenly covers a lot of ground without breaking a sweat. I'm left with the impression that the writer had a lot of fun putting this together.

The book is an essay charting the author's personal odyssey to master Japanese. She starts with a daring jump into the deep end, learning on the job as an English teacher in a remote corner of the country. Witty, insightful and sometimes painfully frank, this becomes a story of an imperfect heroine finding her place in the abyss between the two cultures she originally expected to bridge as a translator.

Beautifully written and not overbearing on the technical, the book uses a clever hook to theme each bite-size chapter on a specific memetic formed of two syllables in Japanese. These titular 50 Sounds enable deeply nuanced understanding between native speakers, but rather than simply being a dictionary of terms, the book's chapters spin the definitions for each sound as a cipher for understanding the many escapades our hero has crashed through on her quest.

The author's bravery in cataloging her failings is unquestionable. Her redemption through self awareness and erudition are delicately demonstrated across the chapters thanks to the philosophical clout smuggled into the text.

This book is a little treasure that conveys more provocation of thought than most will have expected they would would be signing up for.