Catfish Rolling

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On an “objective reviewers basis”, I highly recommend this book. It’s a wonderfully written, thought provoking piece of speculative magical realism, that combines a post-apocalyptic-exploration mystery with an emotional character journey. You have to be okay with a slower pacing and not expect a flashy, plot heavy sci-fi novel, but if you surrender yourself the currents of this story, you’re in for an absolute treat. The story, focussing on grief and loss, and the rebuilding of relationships, is closely bound up with the time zones that speed up or slow down things for the characters. Sora comes across at first as a typical, rather self centred teenager, but through the book she grows and is able to assume responsibility. Being a 'hafu', half Japanese and half Canadian, she is at first bewildered by Japanese beliefs, such as the giant catfish that is under the world, twisting and turning causing the earth shakes, but gradually she comes to accept the many different traditions that make up her country and society.

Simon James Green, author of the ‘timely’ Boy Like Me, photographed at home in south London. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian With poignant observations, Kumagai tells the powerful story of a young woman navigating grief and her new normal. [H]eartbreaking and empowering...readers will be rewarded with a rich exploration of grief, society, and finding yourself."— BooklistA gorgeously written, thoughtful read that combines science, Japanese mythology and human emotion to great effect.”— Irish Examiner

A fascinating blend of magic realism and science fiction, dusted with some Japanese mythology, all combined to make a engrossing read. Whilst her father researches the time zones, Sora sneaks into them illegally; she shows tourists around the time zones (for a fee), and conducts her own research, always searching for the mother she lost when the catfish rolled. But all that time in the zones have begun to have a bad effect on her father, whose health appears to be deteriorating rapidly with no real conclusion as to why. The second side is a story about loss. Grief you can't relieve live through, but can't ignore it, either. About losing yourself, the almost impossible journey to find your place as world around tries to exclude you from everywhere. Sora is not Japanese enough to be as her classmates, but not foreign enough to be treated in different conditions. Her dad slowly floats away from his mind, forgetting little things like what day it is or when something happen. It's extremely subtle, but every action in this book is both literal and metaphorical. As someone very interested in Japanese mythology and culture (as well as the scientific implications of time rifts and the like), I was so excited after reading the synopsis, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Sora is visiting her maternal grandfather in Japan an enormous earthquake happens that is so powerful it shakes time out of kilter. Japan is left, along with huge physical devastation and loss of life, with time anomalies, where time moves at different speeds in different places. These areas, called zones, are put off limits as the authorities are uncertain how they will affect people. Sora and her father explore these zones, her father as part of his work, Sora, because she is looking for her mother but these areas are not safe and when her father explores too far, Sora must go in to find him.It's a slow-burner book, but written in such a way where it doesn't feel slow. There is however a lot of time theory, philosophical talks and all that jazz all throughout the book, but it's all relatively easy to understand and, at least to me, was quite interesting. I quite liked all the characters as well, they all had good motivations. When it happened, it was springtime. The cherry blossoms looked like clouds — so pink and fluffy, they might rain sugar”. Seventeen-year-old Sora was still a child when the quake came. Immediately after, “It felt as though the world had stopped, and for a handful of heartbeats we all floated, suspended in space”. Seven years on, it’s as if the world has still stopped for Sora. She lost her Japanese mother in the Shake and now she and her Canadian scientist father are still lost, living close to the deserted wild zones where, since the Shake, time runs differently — faster, or slower, with their own zonal micro-seasons. It’s magical realism, it’s mythology, it’s philosophy, it’s sciency. It’s how the tremors and earthquakes we experience in our lives unbalance us. It’s figuring out who you are in a world that no longer makes sense to you. It’s the impact of grief on individuals and families over time. The story is really about love, loss and learning to accept the way things are. Being Japanese the story encompasses much of the polytheistic and animistic religions. Gods and their representatives are everywhere. The love of nature permeates the whole book. The question is, can Sora stop hating the catfish long enough to help her father and herself? But it's dangerous there – and as she strays further inside in search of her mother, she finds that time distorts, memories fracture and shadows, a glimmer of things not entirely human, linger. After Sora's father goes missing, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself...

This book has earned all the praise and success that I am sure will come, and it has definitely secured its place as a favourite for me. Excellent, evocative, and thoughtful, with genuine depth. #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Librarians Group is the official group for requesting additions or updates to the catalog, including: A dazzling debut. Magic-realism blends with Japanese myth and legend in an original story about grief, memory, time and an earthquake that shook a nation. Overall an incredibly unique and interesting concept that was executed well, I hope a lot of people will give this book a shot!Catfish Rolling was a book with a fascinating and original premise, and I enjoyed the combination of science and Japanese myth. Sora was a well-presented character; however, some of the other characters in the story didn't feel as well fleshed out. The prose was easy reading, but the story posed a number of questions and scenarios to do with the fast and slow zones that were never fully answered by the end, which I found a little disappointing after so much build up. Even so, this remained an interesting and enjoyable read and offered something a bit different in terms of plot, so I am still giving it 4 stars. Recommended to those who like YA fantasy with an original twist. Japan is known for earthquakes, but in this book they go a step further. One particular earthquake was so strong it managed to shatter time. Japan gets split up into different "time zones", some are slow, some are fast and they're all different speeds. No one in the regular speed time zones quite knows what happened to those who where within what came to be the different speed zones. Catfish Rolling is a story about one of the most impossible concepts that we have to face - the concept of time. Defining time, understanding time, and measuring it seems easy in the current day, though the rules for doing these things have been set by people long before us and, really, their theories and beliefs are all we have to rely on. When used as a literary device, 'time' can be a super interesting plot point, and it worked really well here.