The Osugi family have come to a realization. Each of them hails from a different planet. Father from Mars,mother from Jupiter,son from Mercury and daughter from Venus. Already seen as oddballs in their small Japanese town in the 1960s,this extra-terrestrial knowledge brings them closer together; they climb mountains to wait for UFOs,study at home together and regard their human neighbours with a kindly benevolence.
But Father,Juichiro,is worried about the bomb. He writes letters to Khrushchev,trying to warn everyone he can of the terrible threat. After all,humans may be terribly flawed,but aren't they worth saving He sends out a coded message in the newspaper to find other aliens. But there are other extra-terrestrials out there,ones who do not look so kindly on the flaws and foibles of humans. And a charming young man,who claims to be from Venus too,tempts daughter Akiko away from the family...
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241441091Number of pages: 288Weight: 213 gDimensions: 198 x 129 x 16 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'Ordinary people harbour the grandest (and most terrible) thoughts in a cosmological fable as disconcerting as it is funny: behind the simplest actions lie visions of worlds in collision'- Simon Ings
'The Oscar Wilde of Japan... one of Japan's great novelists... his subtlety,warmth and wit shine through'- Telegraph
'A mixture of humour,high literary seriousness and flying saucers... remarkable'- Sam Leith
'Mishima is the Japanese Hemingway'- Life Magazine
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