Gold Rush
Yu Miri, Stephen Snyder (translation)
This is the story of Kazuki, an abused & troubled 14-year-old boy in the poor, crime-ridden Japanese port city of Yokohama, who kills his detached, repulsive father & tries to take over his business. However, he soon becomes all too painfully aware of the consequences of his actions.
A startling work composed of eerily vivd scenes that possess an animation-like hyper-reality, Gold Rush, a phenomenal best-seller in Japan, is a graphic, violent, controversial novel of the corruption of modern Japan & its youth.
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Yu Miri (published elsewhere in English as Miri Yu) is amulti-award-winning Japanese author of Korean descent from Yokohama. Her work engages with topics such as Japan’s high suicide rate,the neglect of children, & the troubles faced by those of arguably ambiguous national identity, such as the zainichi kankokujin group (ethnic Koreans born & raised in Japan). Yu has won numerous awards, including the coveted Akutagawa Prize in 1997 for Kazoku Shinema (Family Cinema), & has a vast readership in both Japan & South Korea, with her works being translated into several other languages. In 2002, Gold Rush appeared in an English translation by Stephen Snyder