Author In Search of An Ending
This, the third novel I’ve read by Susanna Jones, is in fact the first novel she wrote. And it shares the strengths and the weaknesses of the other two (though curiously, less of the major weakness. More of which later)
Set in Japan, a strange country, a different culture entirely, for 
most of us, her strange and alienated female central character Lucy Fly, a misfit in her own country and in her own family, has found a home, and assimiliated in Japan, where she works as a technical translator. So there is an undercurrent of everyone speaking different languages, and trying to understand and communicate with each other.
Lucy has a Japanese lover, not quite a conventional boyfriend, as both he and she have large no-go areas in their relationship, which seems predicated on that being fine, and that the strength of the relationship is in fact that weirdness and unfamiliarity to each other.
Into this mix comes an equally, though differently alienated English ex-pat, another rather gauche drifter, Lily. We know, right at the start, that Lily has been murdered, and Lucy is the prime suspect. The story unravels backwards and forwards as Lucy revisits, in her mind, and makes the stories of all their pasts.
The strength of the book is in the interesting, well crafted characters, the sense of 
strangeness and dislocation, uneasy and unsettling.
However, like those other two books, as I approached the end of the story, and where it was going to go, my overwhelming sense was of disappointment. An ‘oh – so what’ , as the structure and journey Jones has been carefully building ends with a slight feeling of having been cheated. Curiously, as THIS is her first book, she managed the ending rather better than in the other two I’ve read. I obviously can’t say what the ending is, for fear of spoilers, but somehow her endings are too mundane and not really in keeping with what is, for the most part, a sure, fine imagination and mastery of the craft of writing
The Earthquake Bird Amazon UK
The Earthquake Bird Amazon USA
Lady Fancifull 
Hi! Thanks for stopping by and following my blog. I thought I’d come and visit yours.
I read ‘The Earthquake Bird’ a few years back and remember being gripped but then similarly disappointed by the ending. I’ve also read ‘Water Lily’ which seemed even more of a rushed conclusion – a shame really when, like you say, what comes before is so well crafted.
Its strange, isn’t it, she writes well but then seems to stutter at the wrap.
I’ll be digging out my review of the David Mitchell to post here and will do a pingback to yours.
Thank you!
I’ve just tonight bought Jones’ “When Nights Were Cold” which I hadn’t yet read (I couldn’t resist because of the Antarctica connection) so I’ll be interested to see if that one ends similarly disappointingly.
I read this (also love books with a cold connection but will leave you to your own conclusions)
I only tend to post reviews on my blog where I strongly recommend a book – has to get 4 stars minimum and that one didn’t make it for me.
BTW on a completely different author tack – perhaps because there are some slight parallels for me with David Mitchell – the sure, writerly imagination, the ability to handle big themes, the best book I have read this year still continues to be Patrick Flanery’s second – Fallen Land – I reviewed it on here and am boringly banging on about Flanery to every bookie person I meet – he inhabits his characters extraordinarily well, and in this book, an 80 year old black woman, descendant of slaves, a disturbed young child and a disgraced landowner and psychopath are the 3 major ‘inside their heads’, producing a stunning book about the origins of the American dream, corporate culture, and how it turns to the bad.
I’m not sure I’d have been that bothered to read more Jones if it weren’t for the theme of this one as her others have been disappointing. But to be honest I’d probably still track down a copy of “When Nights Were Cold” even if I’d read a ton of negative reviews first because I am obsessively completest about polar fiction! Will have to see how it goes, anyway.
Thanks for the recommending the Flanery book, I hadn’t heard of this author or title before but will admit my interest is piqued having read your review. I think I’ll be seeking this out now.And this is why I love book blogging!
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