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One of the great things about getting boxloads of books every week is the opportunity of discovery. My latest find is SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN by Naomi Hirahara.
Hirahara has received much critical acclaim for her nonfiction work, though she is probably better known in academic circles than in the public eye. SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN is her third work of fiction, and the third to feature Mas Arai. Hirahara has created in Arai a protagonist who arguably is one of the most unique characters in contemporary mystery fiction. Arai is a septuagenarian, a Hiroshima survivor living in Los Angeles who works part-time as a gardener and who, within his community, has garnered some strong but quiet renown as a detective. As Arai reflects frequently in SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, people treat him as if he is not there. So he observes and listens undisturbed, and is able to connect disparate elements.
While this alone would be enough to craft a strong mystery story, Hirahara has taken the fish-out-of-water concept and given it some twists and turns so that Arai, rather than being out of water, is living in a sea that grows more unfamiliar by the day. Not only is Los Angeles changing around him, but his own culture --- fairly well insulated --- is both evolving and devolving. I was reminded throughout SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe talking about the alien drumbeat of another race. The reader feels it, as does Arai, not only with respect to Western culture but also to Eastern culture as filtered through a Western prism.
Arai is not particularly likable, yet there is something endearing about him so that one can sympathize with him. He is a man who would prefer to do his work and be left alone, keeping social contact to a minimum, yet he is bound by the concept of osewaninatta. Westerners would call it returning a favor or, from the other side, cashing in a chit. The concept, dealing with being in debt to another and returning a favor, is much more deeply engrained in Japanese culture. Thus, Arai is motivated to attend a party given in honor of his friend and attorney, George Hasuike. Arai does not want to attend, but Hasuike has helped Arai in the past. Therefore, he has to go.
And he must become involved --- however reluctantly --- when Randy Yamashiro, Hasuike's friend and host, is found murdered after the party. Arai is an invisible man who quietly kicks over rocks, uncovering a puzzle that has remained hidden and unsolved for decades, having its roots in the shameful treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II and revealing itself today in the form of greed and shame. Again, however, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN is more than a mystery. It is a travelogue that quietly examines contemporary Los Angeles from a perspective rarely, if ever, seen in modern mystery fiction.
This is a haunting and compelling work, made all the more memorable by the quiet understatement of its tone. While Hirahara is presently underacknowledged and unappreciated in the world of mystery fiction, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN should correct that situation quickly. Very highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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