A hauntingly original book about Tokyo and the Japanese relationship to time, memory and history, seen through the eyes of an outsider, searching for the past that underlies the city's arrestingly visible present.
Anna Sherman was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She studied Greek and Latin at Wellesley College and Oxford before moving to Tokyo in 2001. The Bells of Old Tokyo is her first book.
Sherman’s is a special book. Every sentence, every thought she has,
every question she asks, every detail she notices, offers
something. The Bells of Old Tokyo is a gift . . . It is a
masterpiece
*Spectator*
[Sherman's] perambulations around the bells yield fascinating,
frequently moving narratives . . . In Tokyo's every nook and
cranny, she finds the possibility of something profound, something
elevating
*New Statesman*
A subtle, beautifully written meditation . . . Profoundly moving .
. . The bells of old Tokyo are no longer heard, but this lyrical
yet serious work deserves ringing endorsement
*Literary Review*
A completely extraordinary book, unlike anything I have read
before. At once modest in tone and vast in scale and ambition . . .
Delicately wrought, precise, lucid and strange as a dream
*Olivia Laing, author of The Garden Against Time*
Beautifully written, surprising, original and humane . . . A truly
stunning debut
*Joanna Kavenna, author of A Field Guide to Reality*
The Bells of Old Tokyo is part personal memoir, part cultural
history, but wholly unique . . . It is the best book I have read
about Tokyo written this century, and deserves to take its place
alongside the works of Donald Richie, Edward Seidensticker and Paul
Waley as one of the great interpretations of this great city
*David Peace, author of Munichs*
Delightful . . . Bells is unknowable, but brilliantly so
*Japan Times*
Good travel writing is often hard to come by - it’s a delicate
balance of bringing a destination to life while also informing of
its noteworthy aspects, but Anna Sherman does so flawlessly
*Japan Today*
In her haunting, beautiful debut travel narrative, Anna Sherman
takes the reader along on her quest to find the bells of old Tokyo,
illuminating a lost world hidden in plain sight . . . The Bells of
Old Tokyo paints an intricate, rich portrait of this labyrinthine
city . . . as much a history of Japan as it is a travelogue
*South China Morning Post*
Only a handful could match Sherman for respectful curiosity,
detailed knowledge and sensitivity to her surroundings
*Canberra Times*
It is very possible – refreshingly, exhilaratingly, possible – for
a great book to exist that is all at once a memoir, a travelogue, a
history book, and an examination of what defines a culture and its
people: their customs, arts, architecture, habits, and priorities.
That is what The Bells of Old Tokyo is. It is also a masterwork
*Books and Bao*
A staggering reassembling of an ancient city turned neon metropolis
. . . An exceptional and exceptionally original piece of
writing
*The Big Smoke*
A fascinating portrait of a city and its people, epic and intimate
at the same time
*The Weekly Times*
A reading treasure . . . A work of literary art . . . Magnificent
both in its content and in the exquisite, lyrical writing of its
author
*Cape Times*
Sherman’s writing is elegant and accessible, and the story of Tokyo
quickly becomes the story of time itself
*Uproxx*
A beautifully written evocation of a place and a philosophical
inquiry into the nature of time itself. An astonishing gift
*Shelf Awareness*
A tour-de-force mapping, in four dimensions, of the amazing place
we call “Tokyo.” I realized I barely know the city . . . So much is
dealt with so beautifully – Mishima, the 1945 firebombs, the tangle
that is Shinjuku . . . Wonderful . . .
*Liza Dalby, author of Geisha*
An enchanting read, drawing you into Sherman’s Tokyo world in a way
that makes you wonder why you shouldn’t fly there right this
minute, with her book as the only guide you’ll ever need
*Xu Xi, author of That Man in Our Lives*
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