3.5
Honeybees and Distant Thunder
ByPublisher Description
THE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLER
Tender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage, and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.
In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous—and painful—moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, forever.
Aya was a child prodigy who abruptly gave up performing after the death of her mother, and is now trying for a comeback; Masaru, a childhood friend of Aya who came to the piano through her insistence that he learn to play, is now reunited with her after many years, and is equally invested in both his and her success; Akashi, who is older and married, works in a music store and is the “old man” of the competitors, hoping for a final chance at success; and Jin, a sixteen-year-old prodigy, the free spirited son of a beekeeper who travels constantly, and has no formal training (and doesn’t even own a piano) yet whose mesmerizing insight into music has brought him to the attention of one of the world’s most celebrated pianists, the late Maestro Von Hoffman.
Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to the brink. But at what cost?
Beloved in Japan, Riku Onda immerses us in the world of music—from piano masterpieces to the buzz of bees and the rumble of thunder—which crescendos to a surprising ending in this rich and vibrant novel.
Tender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage, and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.
In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous—and painful—moments of their lives. Though they don't know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, forever.
Aya was a child prodigy who abruptly gave up performing after the death of her mother, and is now trying for a comeback; Masaru, a childhood friend of Aya who came to the piano through her insistence that he learn to play, is now reunited with her after many years, and is equally invested in both his and her success; Akashi, who is older and married, works in a music store and is the “old man” of the competitors, hoping for a final chance at success; and Jin, a sixteen-year-old prodigy, the free spirited son of a beekeeper who travels constantly, and has no formal training (and doesn’t even own a piano) yet whose mesmerizing insight into music has brought him to the attention of one of the world’s most celebrated pianists, the late Maestro Von Hoffman.
Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to the brink. But at what cost?
Beloved in Japan, Riku Onda immerses us in the world of music—from piano masterpieces to the buzz of bees and the rumble of thunder—which crescendos to a surprising ending in this rich and vibrant novel.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesHoneybees and Distant Thunder Reviews
3.5
“MAGNIFICENT.
This book had my crying ever so often, and in a sense I have never cried out of adoration and sheer overwhelm of the magnificence of meaning. The book can resonate this personally well probably only with people who are involved in music themselves, and it even moved my own performance recently. But even as a book, the character work is so wonderful where you find yourself relating to each of the characters so deeply.One day I was Masaru, one day I wanted to be Jin, a lot of times I was Akashi and mostly I yearned to be an Aya. It immerses you wonderfully in a sensory and visual mudical delight, while also keeping up in a literary sense. The book can get trite at times, but all introspection and awe is trite, and it is sometimes necessary to revive something deep within you. This book made me realise music's place in my life all over again, it took me to my childhood and back, and has forever changed my music.”
“A piano competition, viewed through the eyes of the competitors and the people around them. When a surprise entrant for the world-renowned Yoshigae piano competition causes a stir in the classical music world, everyone has a renewed interest in the prestigious Japanese competition. I enjoyed the way music was seen and the interpretations of the pieces that each contestant presented, and felt like I was drawn into the world of the piano competition. Even though I was only reading and not listening to the actual competition, I felt like I was actually listening. I also recommend finding the playlist (they are out there) for the pieces in the book. I can’t wait to watch the 2019 movie either!”About Riku Onda
Riku Onda is a No.1 bestselling author in Japan. She grew up in Sendai and attended Waseda University, where she played the alto saxophone. In 1991, Onda won an award with her first novel, and became a full-time writer. In 2003 she moved to South America, where she reported for NHK television on Mayan and Incan culture. As her father was a music enthusiast, Onda grew up listening to classical music and played the piano from an early age, before discovering Western rock and jazz. Honeybees and Distant Thunder was the most celebrated novel of the year when it first published in Japan, winning two major literary awards: the Japan Booksellers Prize and the Naoki Prize (no other novel has won both in the same year). In 2019, it was made into a major Japanese film.
Other books by Riku Onda
Philip Gabriel
Philip Gabriel, Professor of Japanese literature in the Department of East Asian Studies, the University of Arizona. He has translated many novels and short stories by the writer Haruki Murakami and other modern writers. He is recipient of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature (2001) for his translation of Senji Kuroi’s Life in the Cul-de-Sac, and the 2006 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.
Other books by Philip Gabriel
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