What a strange story this is: British ex-pat Lucy Fly has lived in Tokyo for ten years and works as a translator; she befriends Lily, another Brit newly arrived in Tokyo. Her lover – she hesitates to use the word “boyfriend” is Teiji, an amateur photographer, about whom Lucy is quite possessive. The book opens with Lucy being questioned, and not for the first time, about the murder of Lily; as Lucy was the last known person to see her alive she becomes the main suspect. Why, then, is she so reticent about helping herself out of the situation? Why doesn't she tell the police that she is fluent in Japanese? I actually found that the notion of the police not knowing this to be quite ridiculous given that they know where she works, and actually sought her out at her workplace. None of the characters is fully developed; Lucy herself is selfish and unsympathetic and does not endear herself to this reader. Described on the back cover as “ a young, vulnerable English girl” - hardly, considering she left her native Yorkshire some ten years previously, and has survived in Tokyo ever since. She is self-sufficient, self-serving and almost makes a point of being unfriendly and unsociable. Vulnerable? I don't think so. She decided on Tokyo because it was as far away from Yorkshire as she could possibly go without getting nearer to it again. She befriended Lily because another ex-pat asked her to, but she took an instant dislike to Lily because she was from Yorkshire. What is it about that county that Ms Jones dislikes so much? We learn little about Lucy even when she reveals something of her early family life, when she shows an incredible sense of survival. Having lived in Tokyo for ten years it's amazing, even given her strange personality, that she has only one friend, Natsuko a work colleague. Lucy also has the extraordinarily irritating habit of referring to herself in the third person. Why? I'm darned if I know. Why is the book called The Earthquake Bird? Again – I'm darned if I know as it seems a fanciful title which bears very little connection to the story. The descriptive writing of Japan is well done and enjoyable, and that is what kept me going with this short book, and I have to wonder, if this book was set in Yorkshire, say, would it have been even half the book it is? The ending is a bit of a flop as it fizzles slowly out of what little steam there was. All in all a disappointing book; I honestly wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a thriller.
I would give this book 2.5 stars if I could. It wasn't more than okay, but it had some interesting bits.First, I felt the title was forced on the book. The writer mentioned the possibility of a bird that might be singing during earthquakes - and who may not even exist - like twice throughout the whole book. I didn't feel it was relevant, unless it's a sign that the narrator was mad, in which case it was unnecessary. Lucy had bigger issues than possibly hearing a nonexistent bird.Speaking of Lucy, I absolutely hated that Jones made her keep switching between the first and the third person during her narration. There was no pattern for the choices, it was simply annoying.That being said, the story was interesting. Not much happens in real time (the book is mostly made up of flashbacks) but Lucy's point of view is interesting. I liked her perception of everything: she kept putting everything (people, cities, countries, etc.) in boxes of clichés so she either loved them or hated them. I liked her insecurities (kudos for Jones for not making me roll my eyes at those) and I enjoyed her mild obsessiveness.The ending was weird for me, I would have preferred a different one.All in all, this is a different kind of story, and it's quite short. It will keep you interested, albeit not completely engaged. It was probably meant to be this way.
What do You think about The Earthquake Bird (2003)?
What an extremely long and boring book. Very little exciting, and as others have written, why couldn't we get to know more of why Teiji took his photos, why has the other characters in the book been told so little about.. The main character Lucy was in my eyes and understanding very self centered, talking in third person and hard to emphasize with. Of course the whole story had to end in a clichè. Those two hundred pages took me forever to read. Also I never really got any picture of Lucy, the looks, age and so on..
—Viktoria
I quite liked this Japanese-set crime novel and found it an engaging read, but there were a couple of things which disappointed and in fairness I would have given it 2.5 stars rather than 3 (and 2 seemed rather mean).Lucy has been working in Japan for some time, fleeing her disfunctional family, and has embarked on a relationship with Teiji which comes undone when another English expat, Lily, enters the scene. Lily is also fleeing from the UK, and although there are similarities between the two, they are quite different people. At the start of the novel, Lucy is being interrogated over Lily's murder, and the back story expands as the novel progresses.The tone is light and easy-going, it's quite a pageturner. What ruined it for me were the segments of back story set in England which really didn't convince me and were at odds with the Japanese sections. It felt like 'story' instead of being realistic. And the ending kind of goes 'so what'. Other than that, it wiled away a few days but the depth that purports to be there is really just a paddle in the shallows.
—Andrew
Lucy Fly left home as soon as she was able and found herself in Japan, as far away as one can get from England. She lives and works there as a translator. As the novel opens, Lucy is arrested on suspicion of murder. As the police interrogates her, Lucy narrates her life story to the reader.[return][return]She left immediately after college, without bothering to inform her family. Not that they cared anyway; her mother was expecting another boy and lost interest when she saw that her newest child was a girl. Lucy was a ghost in the household. Her brothers followed their mother's example and ignored her, except for the times when they made cruel sport of her.[return][return]This was how she accidentally caused the death of one of her brothers.[return][return]In Tokyo, Lucy finds work, an irregular set of friends and a boyfriend who is obsessed with taking photographs. Teiji is a puzzle to her, but it is a comfortable bed-buddy arrangement. Then, Lily entered the picture.[return][return]Lily is from the same part of England as Lucy. The little piece of home unsettles Lucy and her new friend's personality sometimes grate on her nerves, but somehow they became friends. It was Lily's disappearance and recovery of a woman's torso that led the police to arrest Lucy.[return][return]Similar names in the same story annoy me because I have to look twice to make sure I didn't mistake one for another. It didn't help that they were both 4-letter names starting with an L.[return][return]It also didn't help that Lucy is a little peculiar. In the middle of a narration, she starts referring to herself in the third person, which doesn't help with keeping track of both women. However, it does show that there's something wrong with her and her take on what happened may not be what really happened.[return][return]Author Susanna Jones lived in Japan for a number of years, and brings the Japanese culture and society to life in her novel, although thankfully, she didn't thrown in unnecessary details that may overwhelm the reader.[return][return]The Earthquake Bird is one of those quiet mysteries where it's all already happened, and what's left to do is follow the road that led them there.[return][return](2006)
—Georgette
