translated by Geoffrey Trousselot
According to Wikipedia, this short novel spawned no less than five sequels. It’s difficult to say why, as the first book is not particularly well-written. The clumsy translation does not help:
‘OK then, here you go,’ Kumi said, and she quickly pulled out two notes from her purse.
Kei took the notes and counted them efficiently. ‘Receiving eleven thousand yen,’ she said, and again she punched the keys of the cash register.
How efficient you have to be to count two banknotes?
But I suspect even the best translation wouldn’t cure the novel of its annoying verbosity. And do we really need to know exactly how its characters are dressed each time they are mentioned? Now if the text was reduced to a twenty-page short story, I would most probably enjoy it. I find the idea of being able to travel to the past knowing that, no matter how hard you try, you couldn’t change it, strangely comforting.
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