"Spring, at Barneys" YOSHIDA, Shuichi -- gayer than gay novels?

春、バーニーズで ["Spring, at Barneys"]
吉田 修一 / 文藝春秋 [YOSHIDA, Shuichi/Bungei Shunju]
Score (out of five): 4


Yoshida is my recent favorite Akutagawa-Award-winning author. (Akutagawa Award is one of the most prestigious awards given out twice a year to new authors.)

At the end of last year, I finally got around to read 「パーク・ライフ」 ("Park Life"), his award-winning novel. I enjoyed it enough that I picked up 「日曜日たち」 ("Sundays") and enjoyed that as well. He uses proper nouns in a natural way so that it doesn't stick out of context. He depicts everything very neatly and the story flows well. I enjoyed how he shifts the characters' view points, which makes the context more "real".

This novel, "Spring, at Barneys," is similar to "Sundays" in terms of structure, in that a group of short stories make up a short novel. Before reading the book, I thought that the story would take place in New York, with "Barneys" in the title and all, but I was wrong. And I'm glad I was.

The main character is a young middle-aged man who has a past of living with an older gay man. He is now happily married to his wife, who has a child from her previous marriage. They live almost an hour away from Central Tokyo with the wife's mother.

Sometime ago, I read comments about Yoshida's works being "gayer than gay novels." And after reading "Spring, at Barneys" I think I understand what they meant. It's not because the main character lived with a gay man before. It's "gayer" because Yoshida was able to create a normality out of that character's past.

Either way, it's nonsense to categorize this kind of a novel. It's merely a novel about normal people's normal lives.