Catfish rolling by Clara Kumagai

This is an amazing journey! I loved it and yet was baffled by its intensity. It is both a literary masterpiece and a tale of discovery. At heart it is a coming-of-age story set in the world of a Eurasian young girl, Sora, who has returned to live in Japan from Canada, and also an other-world story with ethereal qualities. Meshing science and investigation of time that has been disrupted by the violence of seismic activity, with the mysticism and mythology of ancient Japanese understanding, this story has a unique quality that cannot be compared to other contemporary YA literature. The cultural influence of life in Japan, lived with the repeated turmoil and uncertainty of a ‘rolling earth’ caused by the ‘Catfish’ that lives underneath their feet, are central ingredients in this charming but complex story of a teenager finding her feet when the world around her has been rocked to the core. Losing her mother and her certainty means that the shifts in time that she experiences have confusing qualities that are difficult to navigate. Where will she go, what is her future, and who is she now that her whole world has changed?

For students of Japanese and those who have more than a passing acquaintance with Japanese culture, this will be a book that resonates. For those of us that don’t, it is a wonderful entry into this non-Western culture with its own history, foods, myths, and stories. The investigation of time, memory and grief is also woven poetically through the story of the teen central character who is negotiating her understanding of loss as she faces her own decisions for her future and working out how she must connect with her father as he manages his own path of grief and the slip of time that they live in. The scientific scrutiny of time alterations is a steep contrast to the almost-magical experience for Sora. Because of this dystrophy and discomfort, this book may cause some confusion for some teen readers, but it will also inspire others because of the different ways we can experience the world, our own emotional responses to difficulty and loss, and also our view of time as an absolute. This is a book to get into the hands of mature readers aged 16+. It will stretch their understanding of the world and literary expectations in a powerful way. It is not for those who want a straightforward narrative.

Themes: Japan, Time, Memories, Forgetting, Mythology, Earthquakes, Same-sex attraction.

Carolyn Hull