‘Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight’: Riku Onda's layered novel deftly juggles genres

Riku Onda’s “Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight” starts off as a murder mystery: Aki and Hiro’s mountain trek is suddenly cut short when their guide mysteriously falls to his death and the couple’s relationship is irrevocably changed. A year later, suspecting the other of the guide’s murder, the pair agree to spend one last night together in their soon-to-be vacated apartment before they part ways forever.

Over the course of the novel, Onda plays with ideas of attraction, truth and memory like building blocks: one piece on top of another in a carefully constructed tower. The chapters stack up in increasingly precarious constructions that defy expectations as the author moves through genres.