DISTANT THUNDER BY WAHEI TATEMATSU

 “When, three years back, the villagers had their once in a lifetime chance at big money, they all jumped at the opportunity, never realizing they’d be turned into puppets….The former village swarmed with car salesmen, bankers, insurance agents, landscapers, travel agents, promoting overseas tours, real estate agents touring land in Hokkaido no one had ever seen, and even shadier types of entrepreneurs. They coated the town like ants on sugar. The one time farmers with their bulging moneybags were easy prey for the invading hordes….Reality soon set in….”

There are a number of stock literary plot elements in DISTANT THUNDER by Wahei Tatematsu….The farmers who used to work the soil for generations struggling to find a life outside of farming….The plain spoken hero who is filled with integrity….The friend who can’t adapt and does a terrible thing….A lengthy marriage scene that wraps up all the plot details and features the death of an elderly character representing rebirth.

However, because the level of detail is so precise (especially about tomato growing which is what the main character does for a living) this is never predictable or stilted.

Mitsuo, the hero, in his early 20’s works in his small greenhouse which is all that is left of his family farm since his father sold out to land developers….His mother works in construction and various other odd jobs and his father’s elderly mother watches TV at home all day.

There is a nice comparison here between the small strip of land Mitsuo owns and the giant apartment building next door which was built on the purchased land….The character of his father who has left his mother after selling the land and now is living with a bargirl is well drawn….If you provide for your family your whole life and never have a moment for yourself, is this behavior selfish for an older man?

The scenes with Kojii, his doomed friend who is lost in post-farming Japan despite the fact his parents still own rice paddies have a certain poignancy.

I really liked the scenes between Mitsuo and the woman he marries Ayako ….She is as earthy and down to earth as him and their sex scenes are beautifully written saying just enough and not too much.

In fact, Mitsuo and Ayako’s sex scenes and many other parts of day to day life are implicitly linked to farming or, as it all that is left, growing tomatoes….This book is successful in every area of writing but linking it all to the cycle of growing and working the soil is done perfectly.