Realia - Couverture rigide

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0679310401 ISBN 13 : 9780679310402

Synopsis

Book by Aitken Will

A propos du livre

Extrait

Everyone at Akasaka Pearl Hotel speak English. No problem. Right away. I rush along gently curving corridors. Where do they keep the fucking ice machine? Maids step behind their carts and bow as I pass. Something like "Ohio" springs joyously to their lips. "Ohio," I call back, feeling like an extra in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Part of each floor-to the left of the elevators-seems set aside for people like me. Not Westerners necessarily, but people who dress like Westerners. As far as I can determine I am the only Westerner at Akasaka Pearl, which everyone affects not to notice. I return the favor. I would like, however, some ice. I know it's seven a.m., but not on my time goddammit. A big plastic barrel of ice for the bottle of cognac I picked up at duty-free.

I like it iced.The bronze elevator doors open. A bellhop strides out, straightening his pillbox cap. "Ice," I call out to him. "Ice!" he smiles, bows, heads off down the corridor. I trot along at his heels, the ice machine surely but yards away. Halfway down the hall he knocks at a door. Ice. It swings open. A man in a blue-and-white robe hands out a pair of black wingtips. Door closes, bellhop bows to dark wood, turns around to discover me staring down at him. "Ice," he assures me. Bowing low he hurries off.

Back in my room I ring room service. "Ohio," a woman answers.

"Ohio. You speak English?"

"Judamoma please."

On hold. Synthesizer version of "Home on the Range."

"How may I help you?" A man this time, we're moving up the pecking order.

Explain my simple needs.

"Only ice?"

"Only ice."

"Ah." Strange watery intake of air.

Would you mind holding?"

"Home, home on the range."

"How may I help you?" Different man. I think. Or part of an elaborate game played with foreigners.

"I would like some ice please."

"And what else?"

"Nothing else. Just a big bucket of ice. You do have ice?"

"I will send it right up."

"Thank you so much."

I study the small green pamphlet on the dressing table: WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF POTENTIAL DISASTER. Earthquake instructions. Forgot they have those here. This explains the heavy chrome flashlight in the dressing-table drawer and possibly the two identical bound volumes, one with the English title The Teachings of Buddha.

        Knock at door. Same bellboy. Probably. He holds a silver salver set with a finger bowl full of ice and two bottles of club soda.

Formal presentation of bill.

I stare dumbly at four digits preceded by a yen sign. As far as I can calculate they're asking me to pay $24 for two bottles of fizzy water and a midget's handful of ice.

"I didn't order club soda."

The bellboy slides closer to me, keeping the salver be-tween us. "Ice," he smiles.

Point to each frosty bottle and shake my head vehemently. "No club soda."

"You must."

The silver bottle caps catch the morning light. "I must?"

"For ice"-narrow index finger indicates the bowl-"you must order drink."

"Ah." With proffered pen I scribble at the bottom of the bill.

He places the tray on the dressing table and heads for the door.

"Just a moment." I press a 500-yen coin into his hand.

He studies his upturned palm, hands the coin back. "No tip."

Sit down on the bed, cool bottles sparkling on the tray before me. I pop one open and glug it down. Such pleasure courses through me. Away at last.

Revue de presse

"Somewhere between Ovid and Jonathan Swift lies Realia, as lucid as a Japanese paper clip but slightly more real. Will Aitken is my favourite novelist writing in English today." —Anne Carson

"Louise's gritty, tough manners are endearing and one comes to quite like this Albertan giant lumbering about Kyoto, scaring the natives." —New Brunswick Reader

"Those expecting another in the journal genre of the awkward Westerner struggling to absorb the aesthetic and spiritual richness of Japan will be in for a shock. Louise is no phrasebook-hugging pilgrim on a tasteful culture quest." —The Globe and Mail

"Poetic...a recounting of the Orpheus myth." —The Gazette

“Aitken overlaps pop culture and ancient myth to create a gritty, unsentimental love story with operatic dimensions....Realia is a quirky novel, part modern myth, part demystification.” —Edmonton Journal

“In Louise, Aitken has created a character to be proud of–loud, large, lusty and therefore utterly out of place in her new surroundings.... Both her voice and her personality are resonant.” —National Post

“[Aitken] has a talent for satire, or black humour, or whatever you want to call it. Realia’s best points are its tight one-liners, amusing caricatures, slapstick and rollickingly absurd burlesque.” —The Toronto Star

Détails de l'édition

• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0679310401
• ISBN 13: 9780679310402
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 272
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible