DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Parade

A tense exploration of youth and urban life

Shuichi Yoshida author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:5th Mar '15

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Parade cover

In Parade, four twenty-somethings in Tokyo confront their personal struggles while a tense atmosphere looms around them, revealing secrets and desires.

In Parade, four young adults navigate their lives in a bustling Tokyo apartment complex. Each character brings their unique story to light, revealing their dreams, fears, and the complexities of their relationships. Kotomi anxiously waits for a boyfriend who never seems to call, while Ryosuke longs for someone just out of reach. Meanwhile, Mirai spends her days sketching and her nights exploring the vibrant nightlife, and Naoki, who works in film, acts as a supportive figure for the group.

The arrival of Satoru, an eighteen-year-old homeless youth engaged in a peculiar line of night work, adds an unsettling twist to their lives. As the narrative unfolds, the tension escalates, revealing a disturbing situation in the neighboring apartment. The characters' personal struggles intertwine with the growing sense of unease in the streets of Tokyo, where violence lurks just outside their door.

Parade is a gripping exploration of urban life, showcasing the challenges and secrets that define the lives of these four friends. The author, known for the cult classic Villain, masterfully captures the raw emotions and complexities of youth in a city that can be both exhilarating and dangerous. Through the lens of these characters, readers experience Tokyo in a way that is both intimate and unsettling.

A sharply observed slice of urban alienation -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *
Imagine if Friends had ended with the revelation that Chandler was a psychopath – and that Joey, Monica, Ross, Phoebe and Rachel weren't bothered by it. Yoshida locates horror less in violence than in the kind of atomisation that would permit it -- Yo Zushi * New Statesman *
Unsettling, prosaic, effortlessly profound… Yoshida creates a Tokyo both mundane and chilling, a metropolis not of neon and punk but of small rooms in which people who live with each other may as well just be passengers on a subway train, marking time until a stop that never comes -- Stephen Joyce * Nudge *
Startling... It is a fascinating story of how five people can co-exist, written in each character's own words... The unexpected, if almost inevitable conclusion brings things to a brilliant end * UK Press Syndication *
A brilliant book * UK Press Syndication *

ISBN: 9780099526643

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm

Weight: 170g

240 pages