[An] exquisitely written observation of contemporary Japan... Jan Blensdorf is from Australia, but her sensitive perceptions of a society in crisis make this modern pillow book well worth its plucking from the publisher's slush pile

Cultural observations float through her prose like butterflies, but sting like a bee in the end

A poetic tale about the social constraints and collective unconscious of modern Japan... Like the Japanese calligraphy the narrator is taught, Blensdorf's sparse prose creates word-paintings of great subtlety

Set in Tokyo the story glides across the contradictions of contemporary Japanese culture - its deep traditions and manic consumerism...

A subtle meditation on beauty and womanhood

Mr Greens' extraordinary power of plot-making, of suspense and of narration...moves continuously both in time and space and in emotion

His style is spare, that's what is so beautiful. His novels are genuine romans philosophies - novels illustrating ideas

In a class by himself...the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man’s consciousness and anxiety