Movies, girls, and our hopeless youth. Book review of "NAMIKO, or, The Fool on the Hill 1990"

We will introduce a short story, " NAMIKO, or, The Fool on the Hill, 1990 ," written by an author living in Kumamoto.

"The only things that had meaning in my life were the movies I loved and the back of that girl."

This is a short story that I would like to dedicate to those who have lived with such feelings buried deep in their hearts.

Fukuoka, 1990.
The narrator, Kusakabe Satoru, is 35 years old and has quit his job at an advertising agency and is living in the "room on the hill" he bought with his inheritance.
While listening to the Beatles, I recall Godard's filmmaking and blurt out Woody Allen's lines.
As he stands there, stuck between the past and the future, he retells the story of three women named "Namiko."

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The narration is like a monologue from an old movie.

"NAMIKO" is more like a "monologue literature of recollection" than a narrative novel.
There is no real plot, just fragments of memory told like stills from a film.

But it's strangely real.

A man who entrusted his dreams to movies. A man who lost in love.
A man who stopped midway through his youth, failed to become an adult and remained somewhere.

The perspective of the protagonist, Kusakabe Ryo, is undoubtedly that of the generation that "lost something" in the 1990s.

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Back then, culture was life itself.

Reading this story reminds me of the "intense sensitivity" I felt back then.
The words written on a CD jacket, the last scene of a movie you saw in theaters, the Beatles that you heard by chance on the radio late at night.

They were never "knowledge" or "hobbies."
It was an identity, a prayer, and love itself.

"NAMIKO" contains the bittersweet yet beautiful echoes of someone who has lived and breathed that culture.
The story is told with a rhythm and warmth to it, so as you read, the "B side of your life" naturally emerges.

In everyone's heart, there are words that they couldn't say at that time.

"NAMIKO" is a quiet novel without any flashy developments.
But after I finished reading it, I suddenly stopped.
The moment many years ago when I saw someone's back.
The sound of a record I thought I would never hear again.
I hoped that someday I too would be able to talk about it like in that movie.

Such "helplessly lovable things" emerge from between the pages.

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I want you to remember what "Namiko" means to you

This story is a kind of "narrative experiment" and also a "life editing exercise."
The work gently presents dreams that will never come true, wrapped in humor and self-mockery.

I'm sure anyone over 40 can understand this.
The culture that I loved with all my heart when I was young still supports me somewhere today.
And sometimes the only way to sort out the past is to talk about it.

" NAMIKO, or, The Fool on the Hill 1990 " is
It may become a "memory playback device" for you.

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This review was written by our staff.