Revenge: eleven dark tales - yoko ogawa

An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband.

Years later, the writers stepson reflects upon his stepmother and the strange stories she used to tell him.

Meanwhile, a surgeons lover vows to kill him if he does not leave his wife.

Its not just Murakami but also the shadow of Borges that hovers over this mesmerizing book.

[and] one may detect a slight bow to the American macabre of E.

Ogawa stands on the shoulders of giants, as another saying goes.

But this collection may linger in your mind -- it does in mine -- as a delicious, perplexing, absorbing and somehow singular experience.

--Alan Cheuse, NPR Sinister forces collide---and unite a host of desperate characters---in this eerie cycle of interwoven tales from Yoko Ogawa, the critically acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor.

An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband.

Elsewhere, an accomplished surgeon is approached by a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart.

And while the surgeons jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman.

Desire meets with impulse and erupts, attracting the attention of the surgeons neighbor---who is drawn to a decaying residence that is now home to instruments of human torture.

Murderers and mourners, mothers and children, lovers and innocent bystanders---their fates converge in an ominous and darkly beautiful web.

Yoko Ogawas Revenge is a master class in the macabre that will haunt you to the last page.

An NPR Best Book of 2013.