Our June Ink & Drink book club choice was Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto, "an irresistible Hitchcockian gem: a fiendishly-plotted crime novel told in crisp, elegant prose." Now widely available in English for the first time, Tokyo Express is celebrated around the world as Matsumoto's masterpiece - and as one of the most fiendish puzzles ever written.
'It was a puzzle with no solution. But he did not lose heart.'
In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast's wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple's cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers' suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime...
Let us help you discover the novel with our Ink & Drink questions:
Rather than being a 'whodunnit', the novel is more of a 'howdunnit' in the sense that the people involved in the murder become clear fairly early on, making the investigation more about how the crime was committed. Did wondering how rather than who keep you hooked on the story in the same way?
What did you think about the duo of the older detective from Fukuoka and Mihara, the younger detective from Tokyo? Do you think introducing the story with Torigai and then having him contribute again at the end with his letter worked?
What did you think of the pacing of the novel? Do you think the periods of discovery versus investigation were well-paced? Do you think the pacing helped to keep you gripped?
What did you think of the diagrams, train timetables and maps in the novel? Did they help you to better understand the plot and the locations? Did they add to your reading experience or hinder it?
What did you think of the novel's translation? Do you think the many Japanese place names included were necessary? Did they help or hinder your reading, and if you were the novel's translator, would you have cut some out?
Mihara takes quite a long time to realise that Yasuda may have taken a plane in addition to a train in order to make it to the other side of Japan from where the murders happened. How do you think our reading experience differs in the present day from when the novel was initially published in 1958?
The novel was originally published with the name Points and Lines. How do you think this compares to Tokyo Express? Which title do you think better reflects the novel's content?
Beyond the detective narrative, the novel provides us with glimpses of daily life in post-war Japan. Coffee, outings to the cinema and air travel all point towards the dawning of a new era. How does Matsumoto juxtapose the new with the old in the novel and how does he use this comparison to his advantage?
The writing in Tokyo Express has been described as "social realism with utilitarian descriptions and dialogue... everything serves a purpose: only in passing snapshots can readers guess characters' moods and emotions'. Did you like this style?
What did you think of the novel's ending? Were you satisfied with the conclusion?
For our next Ink & Drink book club, held on Wednesday July 26th at 6.30pm, we will be reading Lori & Joe by Amy Arnold. We hope to see you there, and if not, we look forward to sharing our questions with you soon!
About the book:
Lori and Joe have lived in the Lake District for many years, in a quiet valley where one day is much like another. Bringing Joe his regular cup of coffee one morning, Lori finds him dead. She could call an ambulance, but what difference would it make? Instead, she heads out for a walk over the fells.
As she makes her way through the November fog, Lori’s thoughts slip between past and present, revealing a marriage marked by isolation, childlessness and a terrible secret she’s never disclosed.
Taking place over the course of a single day, yet recounting a discordant relationship of many decades, Lori & Joe is an intimate and compelling story of entrapment and loneliness, and of a life in which desire is continually overcome by inertia: nothing changes and nothing is ever (re)solved.