The Pine Islands - by Marion Poschmann (Paperback)

About the Book

A bad dream leads to a strange poetic pilgrimage through Japan in this playful and profound Booker International-shortlisted novel.

Book Synopsis

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2019

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

A bad dream leads to a strange poetic pilgrimage through Japan in this playful and profound Booker International-shortlisted novel.

Gilbert Silvester, eminent scholar of beard fashions in film, wakes up one day from a dream that his wife has cheated on him. Certain the dream is a message, and unable to even look at her, he flees - immediately, irrationally, inexplicably - for Japan. In Tokyo he discovers the travel writings of the great Japanese poet Basho. Keen to cure his malaise, he decides to find solace in nature the way Basho did. Suddenly, from Gilbert's directionless crisis there emerges a purpose: a pilgrimage in the footsteps of the poet to see the moon rise over the pine islands of Matsushima. Although, of course, unlike the great poet, he will take a train. Along the way he falls into step with another pilgrim: Yosa, a young Japanese student clutching a copy of The Complete Manual of Suicide . Together, Gilbert and Yosa travel across Basho's disappearing Japan, one in search of his perfect ending and the other a new beginning. Serene, playful, and profound, The Pine Islands is a story of the transformations we seek and the ones we find along the way.

Review Quotes

"A quirky, unpredictable and darkly comic confrontation with mortality." -Man Booker Prize Jury

"... Marion Poschmann, a multi-award-winning poet and novelist in her native Germany, now appears in English fully formed, translated by Jen Calleja, and has all the air of uncovered greatness. The Pine Islands is a story that doesn't tie up loose ends but leaves themes scattered as needles on the forest floor, allowing the reader to spot their patterns. The best approach to this beguiling, unpredictable book is to follow Gilbert's advice on reciting poetry: 'to let it affect you, and simply accept it in all its striking, irrational beauty.'" -John Self, The Guardian

"A masterpiece." -Die Zeit

"Clever, poetic, funny." -Tagesspiegel

"Ravishingly funny." -Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"Readers who like quiet, meditative works will enjoy this strangely affecting buddy story." -Publishers Weekly

"Rather than tying up the loose ends, she leaves them beautifully fluttering in the wind, and you do not feel lost in that experience. The writing is poetic and it's worth savouring." -Angela Caravan, Shrapnel

". . . Marion Poschmann's The Pine Islands offers an encounter between Eastern and Western literary traditions that makes for a ghostly, unsettling trip." -Max Radwin, Words without Borders

"There's something queasily hilarious about this self-centered pedant, who wouldn't be out of place in the brainy comic novels of Don DeLillo or Nell Zink." -The Wall Street Journal

"The Pine Islands is a contemplative story that questions the possibility of scheduled contemplation or a pre-determined epiphany. " -Winnipeg Free Press

"The book suggests that when you're searching for something in particular you will probably not find it, but that the journey will never be in vain. This eternal theme is handled with grace and humour, in a most unusual way. The Pine Islands is bursting with substance, possibility and delight." -Prism International

"A funny, strange and sad read ... Marion Poschmann's writing - translated into English by Jen Calleja - is deliciously vivid ... this is a refreshing book for the curious reader" --Herald

"A remarkably tender exploration of modern life ... Poschmann reveals the still beauty to be found in life beneath a mask of black humour." --Mia Colleran, Irish Times

"The Pine Islands is a story that doesn't tie up loose ends but leaves themes scattered as needles on the forest floor, allowing the reader to spot their patterns." --John Self, The Guardian