Ekuni, Kaori 1964-

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Ekuni, Kaori 1964-

PERSONAL:

Born March 21, 1964, in Tokyo, Japan.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Japan.

CAREER:

Writer, novelist, and short-story writer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Lady Murasaki Shikibu Literary Award, 1992, for Kirakira Hikaru; Yamamoto Shugoro Prize, 2001, for "It's Not Safe or Suitable for Swim"; Naoki Prize, 2004, for Gokyu suru Jumbi wa Dekiteita.

WRITINGS:

Kobashii Hibi (title means "Crispy Days"), Akane Shobo (Tokyo, Japan), 1990.

Kirakira Hikaru (novel), Shinch-osha (Tokyo, Japan), 1991, translation by Emi Shimokawa published as Twinkle Twinkle, Vertical (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to Ijime ui Sigan (short stories), Nurim (Soul-si, Japan), 1998.

Author of other works published in Japanese.

ADAPTATIONS:

Kirakira Hikaru was adapted as a feature film in Japan, 1992.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kaori Ekuni has emerged as a young voice in Japanese letters with her award-winning best seller Kirakira Hikaru, translated into English as Twinkle Twinkle. First published in Japan in 1991, the novel sold 500,000 copies in its native tongue. Twinkle Twinkle is a domestic drama with a twist. Its central characters, Shoko and Mutsuki Kishida, have agreed to an arranged marriage to satisfy the wishes of their domineering parents. The marriage is unconventional. Mutsuki is a homosexual and has had a longtime relationship with his lover, medical student Kon. Shoko is flirting with alcoholism and is emotionally unstable, unable to form or sustain a lasting heterosexual relationship. "Shoko is so tragically flawed that the aggregate effect of all those tiny cracks and imperfections is a creature of extraordinary beauty," commented Sanford May in a review posted on Bookslut.com. In Mutsuki, however, she finds a sensitive, caring companion who accepts her limitations. At first the marriage is successful. "In donning the shared mask of social acceptability, Shoko and Mutsuki gain the ability to nurture each other toward self-acceptance," commented Jim Gladstone in the Lambda Book Report. "Their marriage of convenience evolves into a partnership of compassion." Shoko has no equivalent to Kon in her life; indeed, without Mutsuki, she has no one. Having a child with Mutsuki, as their parents expect, would seal their relationship, Shoko knows. How Shoko and Mutsuki resolve the challenges to their union forms the crux of the novel.

Narrated from the points of view of its two central characters, Twinkle Twinkle proves that even unconventional marriages evolve over time and that no relationship between married partners is ever simple. "In bright bites of cool, gem-like prose, Ekuni serves up an array of subtly nuanced emotion," Gladstone remarked. Eileen B. Mikals-Adachi remarked in Persimmon Magazine: "The nature of the Kishidas' marriage raises questions about the meaning of love." May noted that the book "presents itself as a novel of contemporary Japan, gently embracing edgy lifestyles and the distinct, offbeat curios that rattle around in our own heads, making us human." Daren King, writing in the Guardian, observed that Twinkle Twinkle "offers two clashing perspectives, with the truth lying somewhere in between." The critic concluded that the novel "is also modern, charming, and thoroughly enjoyable." Mikals-Adachi described Ekuni's fiction as a "welcome addition to the limited number of contemporary Japanese novels available in English." Ekuni, Gladstone concluded, "does a lovely, luminous job of translating elusive feelings into written language."