Spring - by Riku Onda (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"[Onda's] narratives are elusive and bewildering, and half the fun of reading them is looping around, testing the walls, engaging and puzzling out their labyrinthine structures." --Steph Cha, The New York Times

Haru Yorozu, whose name means "ten thousand springs," is a brilliant choreographer coming of age in the hothouse world of European ballet. Able to evoke a flowering tree with a mere sweep of his arm, Haru's genius and passion for dance is all-consuming. This is the story of his childhood discovery in Japan, his years at ballet school in Germany, his first steps toward love, and his rise to international fame even as he strives to understand his own life through dance.

Told from four perspectives by Riku Onda, one of Japan's top-selling contemporary authors, this intense work of literary fiction comes together like a puzzle to reveal a startlingly complex character. The dance pieces Haru creates and the process of creating them are depicted in stunning detail; the plot of each dance deftly moves the plot of the novel forward by introducing characters and illuminating their relationships. Layered references to real and fictional artists, films, books and music contribute to the creation of a wholly convincing world. Readers will be forgiven for searching Wikipedia for this famous choreographer--who is, in fact, entirely fictional.

Review Quotes

"[Onda's] narratives are elusive and bewildering, and half the fun of reading them is looping around, testing the walls, engaging and puzzling out their labyrinthine structures." --Steph Cha, The New York Times

"Onda stands out ... in that she has delved further into her characters' psyches than most." --Tara Cheesman, The Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Riku Onda is the best-selling author of over 40 books and one of Japan's most popular contemporary writers. Born in 1964, she has been writing mystery and literary fiction since 1991 and has won the Naoki Prize, the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers' Award and the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel, among others. Her work has been adapted for film and television. The Aosawa Murders, her first work to be translated into English, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2020. This is her fourth book translated into English.