A Personal Matter - Kenzaburō Ōe

When I wrote a blog post recently on Kenzaburō Ōe's collection of novellas - Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness - I mentioned that I had first read the short story (novella) Aghwee the Sky Monster in the 1980s, and upon reading it I located copies of two of Ōe's novels, A Personal Matter and The Silent Cry . When I wrote that post, I would have sworn that I had read both novels those many years ago.

It seems that I was wrong, at least on having read  A Personal Matter . I was not so far along in this current "reread" when I had to tell myself that no, I've never read this novel before.

I had a memory of the main character (nicknamed Bird) and his obsession with Africa and his horribly deformed newborn son. Obviously, it was a memory of something I had read about the novel.

Bird is not a responsible, stable individual. Months before the birth of the boy, Bird had gone on an alcoholic binge that lasted several days. He is reluctantly sober when the child is born, but his learning of the deformity sends Bird into a cycle of depression and sexual deviancy.

The book is very disturbing and shocking; definitely not for the fainthearted.

I'm not inclined to include spoilers in my book reviews, but I will say that the ending came as a surprise. It's hardly an easy read, but in my view it's worth the effort.