Every summer, I find myself escaping into the pages of a certain novel like clockwork: Minae Mizumura’s “A True Novel.” Its evocative, heady depiction of the summer resort town of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, more of a supporting character than a mere backdrop for the human drama that unfolds, draws me in to almost forget, for a moment, the relentless humidity of a Tokyo summer — as if I, too, am cooling off under the shaded mountain roads of the summer resort town.
It is difficult to summarize “A True Novel,” published in 2002. At its heart, it is a love story that delves into the transformations Japanese society undergoes in the postwar era, centering on the shifting fate of one affluent family and those around them that get caught up in the tide.
I have to confess that, much like one of the book’s narrators, I have struggled to shake off the story and have found myself, more than once, visiting Karuizawa to attempt to retrace the characters’ steps, wondering if I might come across the two dilapidated Western-style summer houses whose images remain etched in my mind as if they were a specter of the town’s true past.
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