I've not had good experiences with novels by graduates from the Iowa Writers' Workshop - they often seem to either be trying too hard to be funny, or trying too hard to be ultra-clever. This I'm afraid was no exception. The plot sounds promising enough. Marina, a young university graduate who's never quite recovered from her father's suicide, moves with her girlfriend Carolyn (a co-student who she met through bereavement sessions) to Japan to teach English, at Carolyn's suggestion. Unfortunately they are posted to a remote town near a nuclear power station, rather than to Tokyo, Kyoto or any of the other big cities. Both struggle to come to terms with Japanese culture and the endless rules (such as the 'gomi' rules for disposing of rubbish which Marina's teaching mentor Hiroshi Myoshi keeps reminding her of) and Marina seems uncomfortable about letting her colleagues know about her relationship. Moreover, she's starting to become attracted to Hiro, despite their very different backgrounds and attitudes to life - and though Carolyn was the one initially so keen on Japan, it's Marina who's becoming interested in making local friends and settling in.
The trouble is that Watrous doesn't seem to have decided on the sort of novel she wants to write - whether 'If You Follow Me' is comic or serious, whether it's about Marina coming to terms with her bereavement, about her relationship with Carolyn or about day to day life in small-town Japan. I wasn't surprised to learn that this novel was based on the author's own experiences (in the same town described here I believe) - large sections read almost as though they were copied from a diary, and are focussed on day to day events and domestic dramas - a trip to learn 'ikebana' (Japanese flower-arranging), trips to the supermarket, an unsuccessful dinner with a fellow-teacher, endless feuds with the neighbours and their overweight son, various 'set pieces' such as a speech by local dignitaries and a sumo wrestling competition that goes horribly wrong. While there's nothing wrong with this, it all feels a bit flat, and the characters - other than Hiroshi - are not very clearly defined, and tend to merge into a blend of ultra-feminine, attractive and quiet women and slightly authoritarian or difficult men. The humour I didn't find funny at all on the whole (other than some of Hiroshi's ultra-courteous letters), particularly the death of the cat.
As for the Carolyn and bereavement aspects of the plot, I felt they got pushed to one side by the sheer number of events and descriptions of small-town life in Japan that the author was trying to cram into her book. I had little idea at the start what the relationship with Carolyn meant to Marina, and still less at the end, by which time Carolyn had pretty well faded from the book. The bereavement theme seemed to get picked up and dropped rather randomly, and it was still unclear at the end exactly why Marina's father had become mentally ill and what her relationship was with him (at one stage they seemed close, at another he became something of a monster, smashing a record just because she'd listened to it). Her relationship with her mother also remained unclear. Nor really did I feel sure what Marina felt for Hiro - whether she actually did love him, or if he was just another way to escape her grief and uncertainty about what to do with her life.
In the end, I think the author raised a lot of potentially serious and thought-provoking themes, but then failed to tackle any of them because she was so determined to write a comic novel. This unfortunately meant that the humour got monotonous, and that though there were some lovely scenes - some of Marina's conversations with Hiro, some descriptions of places they visited - neither the scenario nor the characters were really interesting enough to keep me involved. I wonder in the end whether the author might have been better off writing a memoir of her time in Japan, and trying a more imaginative and less life-experience based novel? Not sure this is someone I'll keep reading, in any case.


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If You Follow Me: A Novel Paperback – 1 March 2010
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Malena Watrous
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Malena Watrous
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Product details
- Publisher : HarperCollins US (1 March 2010)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061732850
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061732850
- Dimensions : 13.49 x 2.18 x 20.32 cm
- Customer Reviews:
Product description
Review
"[A] deft, funny, and emotionally acute first novel...Watrous's book crackles with atmospheric detail and sharp dialogue, and tells a vivid story of an American confronting grief and self-knowledge in an unfamiliar place."--Boston Globe
"A smart, comic first novel."--New York Times Book Review
"If You Follow Me is the kind of book you finish and then clutch to your heart as you run around telling everyone you know that they have to read it. Watrous has written a book of great genuine warmth, startling honesty, and remarkable power."--Thisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island
"[C]onfident and heartfelt, a finely sketched reminder of the ways in which new loves are like new countries....If You Follow Me will charm all readers who have ever fumbled, offended, raged, and had their hearts broken in a foreign land."--San Francisco magazine
"Graceful, smart, and filled with wonder, If You Follow Me is a heartfelt delight from beginning to end."--Michelle Richmond, bestselling author of The Year of Fog
"Her writing is direct and conversational. And she is able to deliver an excruciating portrayal of Marina's internal struggles."--Eugene Register-Guard
"I love, love, love IF YOU FOLLOW ME. It's fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can't recommend it highly enough."--Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE
"In this beautiful novel, what is most "foreign" to Marina turns out to be her complex relationships with those she thought she knew best. Malena Watrous's writing is sharp-edged and generous, tragic and true. I would follow her anywhere."--Katharine Noel, author of Halfway House
"This tragicomic debut novel spunky, feminist and perpetually wrong-footed college grad as she spends four seasons in rural Japan escaping the memory of her father's suicide."--Ms. magazine
"A smart, comic first novel."--New York Times Book Review
"If You Follow Me is the kind of book you finish and then clutch to your heart as you run around telling everyone you know that they have to read it. Watrous has written a book of great genuine warmth, startling honesty, and remarkable power."--Thisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island
"[C]onfident and heartfelt, a finely sketched reminder of the ways in which new loves are like new countries....If You Follow Me will charm all readers who have ever fumbled, offended, raged, and had their hearts broken in a foreign land."--San Francisco magazine
"Graceful, smart, and filled with wonder, If You Follow Me is a heartfelt delight from beginning to end."--Michelle Richmond, bestselling author of The Year of Fog
"Her writing is direct and conversational. And she is able to deliver an excruciating portrayal of Marina's internal struggles."--Eugene Register-Guard
"I love, love, love IF YOU FOLLOW ME. It's fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can't recommend it highly enough."--Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE
"In this beautiful novel, what is most "foreign" to Marina turns out to be her complex relationships with those she thought she knew best. Malena Watrous's writing is sharp-edged and generous, tragic and true. I would follow her anywhere."--Katharine Noel, author of Halfway House
"This tragicomic debut novel spunky, feminist and perpetually wrong-footed college grad as she spends four seasons in rural Japan escaping the memory of her father's suicide."--Ms. magazine
From the Back Cover
Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.
If You Follow Me is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters--from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion--it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.
About the Author
Malena Watrous's short fiction has appeared in Story Quarterly, Glimmer Train, Triquarterly, The Massachusetts Review, and Kyoto Journal. The winner of the Michener-Copernicus Award, she lives in San Francisco.
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Kate Hopkins
2.0 out of 5 stars
When In Doubt Use Life Experience
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2018Verified Purchase
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E.H.
5.0 out of 5 stars
You will not want this book to end.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 November 2016Verified Purchase
A wonderful book. Great insight into japanese life and great belivable characters.

Angela
3.0 out of 5 stars
Three Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 July 2014Verified Purchase
sweet easy read, nothing outstanding

tamapi-
4.0 out of 5 stars
めちゃくちゃおもしろかったです!
Reviewed in Japan on 28 October 2013Verified Purchase
22歳のアメリカ人Marinaが、英語の指導員として能登半島の辺鄙な田舎に赴任し、1年間をド田舎で過ごす日常の物語。Marinaが日本に来た理由は大学の寮で知り合ったCarolynが日本に英語教師として赴任するのを追いかけて・・というわけで、二人はLover・・・レズビアンの関係にある。
都会に住む日本人が能登半島先端の田舎町に移住しただけでも、カルチャーショックは相当なものだと想像できるが(私は能登半島よりもさらに過疎化の進んだ僻地在住ですけどネ・・)アメリカから、いきなり能登半島にやってきたレズビアンの二人がどのような体験をするか?想像するに難くない。
全編はブラックコメデイーの連続で、思わず声を出して噴出してしまった!抱腹絶倒の連続!!
可燃ごみの分別、家電ごみの日、不燃ごみの分別の仕方、あらゆる作法に違反。地域住民から陰で指摘される。粗大ごみ(壊れた冷蔵庫)を夜陰に乗じて河川敷に運びだし、ゴミだしの指定場所ではなく歩道に置いておく・・あるいは家庭ごみをミスタードーナッツや回転寿司の業務用ごみ箱に持ち運んで、こっそり捨ててくる・・・アメリカ人なりに知恵を絞って苦闘するも、田舎のご近所の目は恐ろしく、実はしっかりと観察していて、彼女らの生理用タンポンの分別、捨て方すら抜かりなく監視されている・・・・
アメリカの22歳の女性から見た日本の慣習、温泉、宴会、カラオケ、米作農家の嫁不足、お見合い、窓際族、夏休みだというのにうだる暑さのなか出勤して職員室でヒマをつぶす教師・・・・・石川県下60全高校のなかで総合順位59のレベルの工業高校で英語を教える苦労(というか・・生徒とのコミュニケーション手法に苦戦)がおかしい。とくに、英語でジェンダー問題、セックスのリスク、エイズ対策なんかを、まじめに?ポルノまがいのポスター(少し年代がずれている)を教材にして、教鞭をとる真摯な姿勢に好感がもてる。たとえ、生徒の対応がすご〜〜くずれていて、ずっこけていても、リアルだ。虚構がない。
小説家としての、作者の姿勢というか観点がすがすがしくて好感がもてる。
ドタバタ喜劇に陥らないのは、コメデイーの部分と平行に、Marinaが父親の自殺を消化しきれず、同じく肉親を失ったCarolyn(母親を脳腫瘍で亡くす)とレズビアンを続けながらトラウマの傷をなめあう辛苦の部分が、ブラックコメデイーと絶妙に掛け合わさった構成で、物語が進むからであろう。
なかなか面白いのは・・・日本人の英語教師が使う英語のくせ・・というか、日本人特有の表現をMarinaが、見抜いていて、それは、彼の個性、人格の表れ・・として1年もその個性とつきあうと懐かしくなる・・みたいなノリ。1年日本で過ごすと、日本人っぽいくせのある英語表現が、自然に肌になじんでしまうあたり。しんみりと笑える。
ただ・・日本の田舎の人間像や日本の英語教育の実態を、そのまま綴っているので日本人のわたしから見れば、さもありなん・・の、リアルな現状であるが、この小説はことさら日本の読者を想定してはいない。英語圏の読者向けの作品であろう。なので、どこまで英語圏全員に伝わるのか??
逆に、この作品が小説として成功しているのは、英語圏の人間向けに日本の現状をことさら説明せず、無理にコミカルに婉曲せず、さらりと事実を伝えている点にあると思う。
都会に住む日本人が能登半島先端の田舎町に移住しただけでも、カルチャーショックは相当なものだと想像できるが(私は能登半島よりもさらに過疎化の進んだ僻地在住ですけどネ・・)アメリカから、いきなり能登半島にやってきたレズビアンの二人がどのような体験をするか?想像するに難くない。
全編はブラックコメデイーの連続で、思わず声を出して噴出してしまった!抱腹絶倒の連続!!
可燃ごみの分別、家電ごみの日、不燃ごみの分別の仕方、あらゆる作法に違反。地域住民から陰で指摘される。粗大ごみ(壊れた冷蔵庫)を夜陰に乗じて河川敷に運びだし、ゴミだしの指定場所ではなく歩道に置いておく・・あるいは家庭ごみをミスタードーナッツや回転寿司の業務用ごみ箱に持ち運んで、こっそり捨ててくる・・・アメリカ人なりに知恵を絞って苦闘するも、田舎のご近所の目は恐ろしく、実はしっかりと観察していて、彼女らの生理用タンポンの分別、捨て方すら抜かりなく監視されている・・・・
アメリカの22歳の女性から見た日本の慣習、温泉、宴会、カラオケ、米作農家の嫁不足、お見合い、窓際族、夏休みだというのにうだる暑さのなか出勤して職員室でヒマをつぶす教師・・・・・石川県下60全高校のなかで総合順位59のレベルの工業高校で英語を教える苦労(というか・・生徒とのコミュニケーション手法に苦戦)がおかしい。とくに、英語でジェンダー問題、セックスのリスク、エイズ対策なんかを、まじめに?ポルノまがいのポスター(少し年代がずれている)を教材にして、教鞭をとる真摯な姿勢に好感がもてる。たとえ、生徒の対応がすご〜〜くずれていて、ずっこけていても、リアルだ。虚構がない。
小説家としての、作者の姿勢というか観点がすがすがしくて好感がもてる。
ドタバタ喜劇に陥らないのは、コメデイーの部分と平行に、Marinaが父親の自殺を消化しきれず、同じく肉親を失ったCarolyn(母親を脳腫瘍で亡くす)とレズビアンを続けながらトラウマの傷をなめあう辛苦の部分が、ブラックコメデイーと絶妙に掛け合わさった構成で、物語が進むからであろう。
なかなか面白いのは・・・日本人の英語教師が使う英語のくせ・・というか、日本人特有の表現をMarinaが、見抜いていて、それは、彼の個性、人格の表れ・・として1年もその個性とつきあうと懐かしくなる・・みたいなノリ。1年日本で過ごすと、日本人っぽいくせのある英語表現が、自然に肌になじんでしまうあたり。しんみりと笑える。
ただ・・日本の田舎の人間像や日本の英語教育の実態を、そのまま綴っているので日本人のわたしから見れば、さもありなん・・の、リアルな現状であるが、この小説はことさら日本の読者を想定してはいない。英語圏の読者向けの作品であろう。なので、どこまで英語圏全員に伝わるのか??
逆に、この作品が小説として成功しているのは、英語圏の人間向けに日本の現状をことさら説明せず、無理にコミカルに婉曲せず、さらりと事実を伝えている点にあると思う。

Divya H Raman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it
Reviewed in the United States on 7 February 2014Verified Purchase
I was truly impressed by this book. The plot is simple, two American girls with ample emotional baggage set out to teach English in Japan. That they are lovers in a new relationship complicates things as they find themselves in a remote village in Japan that has a mind bending structure for trash sorting and disposal. Here not only do they discover each other , but are able to free themselves of the demons from the past that are holding them back. Here they also find new relationships and discover the true meaning of love and loss.
Malena Watrous has done a wonderful job of weaving in the Japanese culture and language without once being preachy or having it sound like an exposition. And she writes about the idiosyncrasies of the culture and the characters without coming off as cocky or derogatory. I particularly appreciated that each chapter started with a japanese word that lead us through the chapter. I had no idea till I read the anglification of Japanese words till I read this lovely book.
Malena Watrous has done a wonderful job of weaving in the Japanese culture and language without once being preachy or having it sound like an exposition. And she writes about the idiosyncrasies of the culture and the characters without coming off as cocky or derogatory. I particularly appreciated that each chapter started with a japanese word that lead us through the chapter. I had no idea till I read the anglification of Japanese words till I read this lovely book.
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