Pure Inventions at Cormorant Books

Pure Inventions

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Synopsis

Set in nineteenth-century Tokyo and twentieth-century Boston, Pure Inventions tells of the incredible adventures of Hiroshi — prankster, forger, authenticator, and artist. The son of a Japanese courtesan and an American naval officer, Hiroshi never feels at home in his native Japan. Torn by his mixed heritage, he is constantly compelled to reinvent himself, sometimes with disastrous consequences. In its vividly detailed recreation of the adventures of its enterprising, tortured hero, Pure Inventions is a story of various kinds of estrangement: from parents; from one's native land; even from one's best self-interests.

Reviews

"Pure Inventions is ... an elegant puzzle about the son of a courtesan and an American naval officer, who escapes Japan to live in America ... Along with recurring woodblock prints, it's part of a luxuriously layered novel that straddles two cultures and two centuries ... The tale is impossily complex and rendered in simple, masterful strokes."
— Hamilton Magazine

Other Titles By This Author

Etienne's Alphabet

Transformations