On Parole

by Akira Yoshimura

Book Overview

After spending sixteen years in prison for a crime of the heart, Shiro Kikutani is released into a world he no longer recognizes. He must readjust to the bright and vigorous stimulus of Tokyo while fending off his own dark memories. In a spare yet powerful style, Akira Yoshimura paints the psychology of a quiet man navigating his way through the unsuspected traumas of freedom-finding a job, finding a home, even something as simple as buying an alarm...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156011476
• ISBN13: 9780156011471
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Wow! So much in so small a book!

I liked this book very much. It appealed strongly to my emotions and to my intellect, and it stayed with me long after I finished the final chapter. What is the nature of justice? What are the limits of freedom? What is the value of human life? Why do we find some murders less reprehensible than others and punish them with lesser sentences? When rehabilitation works, who deserves the credit? Who is responsible when it fails? How do we create our own prisons out of our past experiences? These are just some of the questions that the book raised for me. They are not questions with easy answers and, thankfully, the author does not offer any. What Yoshimura does offer is a well-written story about Kikutani, a paroled murderer trying to adjust to life outside of prison and a freedom that is limited by the law and by himself. At many times I felt a tension between sympathy for Kikutani and disturbance by some of the things he does and thinks. The writing is excellent, and the author presents many provocative images. One of my favorite images is that of Kikutani caring for fish in an aquarium, much like his parole officer takes cares of him. As we notice the similarities between Kikutani and his fish in their worlds restricted by glass or invisible attitudes, we are invited to think about the restrictions of the parole officer's world and of our own. Another part that resonated with me was the loneliness and feeling of separation that Kikutani felt when he returned to a favorite place from his childhood and found it barely recognizable. In these ways and many others, I found Kikutani's story deeply moving and fascinating.

Very real

The story tells about a man on parole after purging a long prison sentence (for murdering his wife and her lover) and his difficulties in readjusting to daily life. Other themes present in the novel are the quality of freedom available to an ex-convict and his incapability to feel guilt. The novel is very touching. It rings very true. Some small details of the main character's difficulties in readapting to 'normal' life especially give the whole novel a tone of realism.Perhaps some of the reader might have seen "the Eel"; a Japanese film that was distributed in the West. THat film was based on a novel from the same author. The story is not the same but the athmosphere and themes are very similar.

Excellent study of freedom and constraints

This is a story of a man paroled from an indefinite sentence for a double murder - a man who is driven by fear and revulsion but whose only sense of guilt is in his inability to feel guilt. The novel begins on his first night on parole; it slowly reveals his past, his slow adjustment to the freedom from prison and the burden of life-long parole, his tentative reaching out for relationships with other humans ...The story is well-written in a slow pace that matches the adjustment to a world outside prison quite unlike the world at the time of his imprisonment. The joy of the book is in the details - the seeming heaviness of shoes after years of prison canvas shoes, the steaming miso after years of soup cooled before it reached your cell. Through these details the author provides a psychological novel exploring guilt, redemption, freedom, restriction, social ties ....This book is well worth reading, well worth a thoughtful reading.

Harrowing, wonderful novel

This spare, beautifully written book draws you in and then delivers a chillingly powerful surprise at the end.

SIMPLY WOW!

If you are buying just one book this week or month, make it this one. On Parole is beautifully and intelligently written. The story itself is so gripping that you won't be able to put the book down until the very end. And then you will take a deep breath and think it all through.Truly an amazing book.