• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Across The Nightingale Floor

Kookamoor said:
No, no. I just meant in future :eek: . Slap me silly, but the Hidden representing Christians never occured to me in the first book.
I guess you have to be familiar Japanese history to see it. A small tribe of people worshipping a forbidden faith that has one True God, isolated on an island [ just as the Christian missionaries were contained in real life ] They have names like Tomasu [ "Thomas" written in katakana ] and later
Jo-an [ "John" ]
 
Mmm... I did pick up the Katakana pronunciation for Thomas, actually. But now that I think about it, the description of the facial characteristics at the very beginning makes a lot more sense now. I'll have to read over it again when I go home this evening.
 
I enjoyed the series, though the 3rd book wasnt as good as the others. For a YA series it's mature and does make for nice reading even for adults :D
 
Here's somethign I learned today: The Fujiwara family were an actual noble family and consult to the throne, going back as far as the late 700s. They later became the Tanakaminamoto family.
 
recently finished this and quite enjoyed it. it has a similar feel to Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, which is still superior. parts were predictable, but as a whole, the story was intriguing enough. 4/5

also, i visited the official book site yesterday and apparently Universal is bringing this one to the big screen. i think they could get a pretty nice martial arts adaptation out of it.
 
I was about half way through this book when my car got broken into and the book was stolen. I never finished reading it. :mad:
 
I just picked up Across the Nightingale Floor at the used book store, I'm glad so many enjoyed it. I'm hoping to start it soon.
 
I really liked this book a lot. It was little bit spare when it came to narration, and the alternating first- and third-person viewpoints were a little bit sloppy, but it was very good nevertheless. It showed a different side to Japanese culture beyond the samurai-ninja stereotypes. I found the concept of the Hidden very interesting (although I thought it wasn't a very good analogy for Christianity) and while it was violent, the descriptions of gore were very concise. It showed a more humane side to what a lot of Americans have viewed as olden Japan--war, blood, suicide.

I was a little bit confused about the sudden 'passion' between Kaede and Takeo. They didn't even know each other! I hope that this is explored more later. And why is it that
Lady Maruyama and daughter drowned themselves? Is there some bit of Japanese culture I am missing here, or were they just suicidal? I am wondering because there is a lot of mention of suicide in the book, and I don't know whether this is just something the author tried to throw in, or an ancient Japanese practice.
.
 
Back
Top