I read it in Japanese--had a huge, flailing, OMG LOVE post about it when I discovered "Calling You", and recently read "Flower Song."
Every Otsu-ichi story I've read so far has been written in first person, and I boggled at Flower Song, because it was a massive plot-twist; there was no indication that the narrator wasn't male...or indication that anyone in that hospital room wasn't, because no pronouns were used for them and everyone was [family name]-san. The narrator used "watashi," but that didn't strike me as particularly masculine or feminine--probably because of the illustrations, maybe, as well as lack of feminine (or masculine) endings in anyone's speech. I was gobsmacked when I hit the end and was like, "Wait, WHAT?!"
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Date: 2009-03-07 12:41 pm (UTC)Every Otsu-ichi story I've read so far has been written in first person, and I boggled at Flower Song, because it was a massive plot-twist; there was no indication that the narrator wasn't male...or indication that anyone in that hospital room wasn't, because no pronouns were used for them and everyone was [family name]-san. The narrator used "watashi," but that didn't strike me as particularly masculine or feminine--probably because of the illustrations, maybe, as well as lack of feminine (or masculine) endings in anyone's speech. I was gobsmacked when I hit the end and was like, "Wait, WHAT?!"