The Boy and the Dog

September 5, 2022
The human-canine bond is the subject of the affecting English-language debut from Seishū, capably translated by Watts. The story opens in the aftermath of 2011’s “triple disaster,” as the narrator describes the earthquake and tsunami that brought about a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima. When Kazumasa, a down-on-his-luck factory worker, comes across a strangely self-possessed dog named Tamon (according to the dog’s tag) in a convenience store parking lot, he decides to adopt him. Suddenly Kazumasa’s life changes: his elderly mother perks up from her dementia, and a classmate offers him a job as a getaway driver for a band of foreign thieves. After the caper ends in tragedy, Tamon finds himself with a new owner, and when that chapter ends, he is adopted by childless couple Sae and Taiki, whose marriage is troubled. Each owner remarks on Tamon’s remarkable presence and notes that the dog seems to be on a journey: while at rest he always “faced west”—but “What was in the west?” Sae wonders. When Tamon finally reaches his destination, the reunion waiting for him is indeed moving. Seishū imbues Tamon with a nobility that never feels sentimental or overdrawn. With this tender display, he proves himself a gifted storyteller.

October 1, 2022
Six months after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, a driver for a theft ring finds a German shepherd mix in a convenience-store parking lot. He dubs the dog Tamon, after a guardian deity. This is the beginning of an epic journey for Tamon, whose steady presence and unfailing focus on finding his way home deeply affect the many people who care for him along the way. Those who find Tamon are more complex than they first appear, such as the driver for stolen goods whose mother is showing signs of dementia and needs the money he earns. In this heartrending narrative, rife with loss and disappointment, Tamon's temporary owners include a hunter in the late stages of pancreatic cancer, a profoundly unhappy wife, and a prostitute seeking escape. Tamon's presence sparks memories of their own past pets and how a dog's love can save a person in every possible way. As he travels the length of Japan in five years, Tamon powerfully demonstrates how love and loyalty can overcome obstacles.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2022
While searching for his own destiny, a dog changes the lives of lost souls. In the wake of a tsunami in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Kazumasa Nakagaki--a young man working as a delivery driver/getaway car operator--finds a stray dog politely waiting outside a convenience store. From the dog's collar, Kazumasa learns that his name is Tamon and assumes that this is short for Tamonten, a Japanese guardian deity. And that is exactly what Tamon becomes for Kazumasa and many others throughout the novel: a guardian angel. Tamon protects Kazumasa as he carries out his illicit activities and tries to make money to support his family. Tamon brings joy to Kazumasa's sister and his ailing mother, whose dementia leads her to believe that Tamon is her childhood dog (a pattern throughout as others associate Tamon with dogs from their pasts). But Kazumasa knows that Tamon, who is constantly and mysteriously turning to look toward the southwest, is not fated to stay with him, and when circumstances drag them apart, Tamon continues on his journey. In a story told in episodic vignettes, Tamon becomes the companion of a criminal, a wife with a deadbeat husband, a sex worker with a dark secret, and, perhaps most poignantly, an old man dying of cancer. Hase's last vignette finds Tamon with a young boy whose early years have been marked by deep trauma. Hase's staccato sentences and straightforward narrative structure should not be mistaken for shallowness. And while some stories are more affecting than others ("The Couple and the Dog" feels slightly awkward in its narrative arc), Hase's novel is ultimately a touching meditation on shining lights in the face of trauma and hopelessness: "It's your dog magic, I suppose. Dogs don't just make people smile. They give us love and courage, too, just from being at our side." Heartbreakingly moving in its simplicity.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.