000			02172nam a22002537a 4500
003			OSt
005			20260318162740.0
008			260318b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781529394177
040			_aKenya National Library Service
082			_a823 TAK
100			_aTakamura, Kaoru _eAuthor
245			_aLady Joker / _cKaoru Takamura, translated from Japanese by Marie Iida, Allison Markin Powell.
300			_a576 pages ; _c22 cm.
490			_aLady Joker (1).
520			_aOne of Japan's great modern masters, Kaoru Takamura, makes her English-language debut with this two-volume publication of her magnum opus. Tokyo, 1995. Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his race; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously after the revelation of a family connection with the segregated buraku community, historically subjected to severe discrimination. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan's largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company's corrupt financiers. Inspired by the unsolved true-crime kidnapping case perpetrated by "the Monster with 21 Faces," Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone since its 1997 publication, acknowledged as the magnum opus by one of Japan's literary masters, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms.
650			_aCrime _vFiction.
650			_aJapan _vFiction.
700			_aIida, Marie _eTranslator
700			_aPowell, Allison Markin _eTranslator
942			_2ddc _cBK _n0
999			_c491583 _d491583