cover image Misunderstandings

Misunderstandings

Clive Collins. Marion Boyars Publishers, $22.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7145-2968-4

Written in plain, unadorned prose that highlights the characters' alienation and loneliness, these 10 stories by the author of Sachiko's Wedding focus on imperfect relationships and desperate people who are often disappointed even when pursuing the most ordinary ambitions. In ``A Slight Misunderstanding,'' a clerk in a Tokyo boxed-lunch shop, worn out by her unfulfilling marriage and job, falls in love with an elegant young woman who epitomizes the independence she lacks and the escape of which she dreams. Englishman Nick Rossa, newly arrived in Tokyo as ``A Blue Ribbon'' opens, becomes a TV star there with relative ease but finds love on a different turf exasperating. Set in modern Japan, Britain and America, these tales depict men grappling with romantic uncertainties amidst enormous prosperity, while women deal with more limited options. In ``Her Victory,'' a Tokyo University student thinks of nothing but outmaneuvering her rival in a matrimonial contest whose prize is an English lecturer. ``Waka'' portrays a dutiful Japanese housewife who escapes once a week to a job as a ``hostess'' providing sex in a club for men. Collins instills these sad stories with poignant insights, resonant emotion and indomitable hope, prompting affection and admiration for his hard-pressed protagonists. (Sept.)