Tokyo Calling

Tokyo
(Graham Marks, 2006)

2 Stars

I received this afore-to unheard of piece of pulp fiction from a dear friend of mine as one of those jokey Christmas presents. A book entitled “Tokyo”, with a lead character whose name is an amalgam of my own and my friends, picked up at a charity shop. Yeah, admittedly, I was quite amused.

It’s always interesting to see someone else’s perspective of the Neon labyrinth that is Japan’s capital city, especially that of a fellow Westerner, as, to be quite honest, I wasn’t all that keen on Tokyo; a confusing, ill-thought out maze with far too many people bustling about and a plethora of sights, sounds and smells that are all too foreign for my liking. And everything’s built for people five feet tall. After reading this equally confusing, ill-thought out novel by allegedly award-winning author Graham Marks, I wasn’t too keen on Tokyo either.

The story, about a teenager whose sister goes missing in the electric mayhem, is nonsensical and unbelievable as Adam (our hero) runs away from home in search of his lost sibling, only to run into overly friendly locals and not so friendly Yakuza. It’s not that these folk don’t exist, it’s just the “all in forty eight hours” story arc is plain daft. Marks’ writing style is also incredibly grating, as he attempts to write as a seventeen year old boy; not in that kind of endearing Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield way, but in an obnoxious “trying to be cool” style that failed to make me like either Marks or his protagonist.

On the positive side, Marks’ depiction of the city itself is spot on; the insanity, the fast pacing and the sheer alienation. However, to experience and see everything the Adam does in his first day is nigh on impossible. Especially with a healthy case of jet lag and a bout of culture shock to wash it down with. Told from Adam’s “coolio” perspective, however, any wonder of Tokyo falls flat on its face.

There’s little to endear me to Marks’ Tokyo I’m afraid, aside from the hilarity of receiving an aptly chosen crap book. I’m kind of glad it was rubbish to be honest; a lot of the humour of its reasoning would’ve been lost. Disengage brain, turn off wits and sit back for the dull ride; the exact opposite of the real Tokyo.