Forest Series
Written by Shion Miura
Narrated by Brian Nishii
3.5/5
()
About this series
From Shion Miura, award-winning author of The Easy Life in Kamusari, comes a spirit-lifting novel about tradition, first love, and ancient lore in a Japanese mountain village.
It’s been a year since Yuki Hirano left home—or more precisely, was booted from it—to study forestry in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. Being a woodsman is not the future he imagined, but his name means “courage,” and Yuki hopes to live up to it. He’s adapting to his job and learning constantly. In between, he records local legends—tales pulsing with life, passion, and wondrous gods. Kamusari has other charms as well. One of them is Nao.
Yuki’s crush on the only other young single person in the village isn’t a secret. Yet how impressed can she be with someone at least five years younger who makes less money and doesn’t even own a car? More daunting, she’s in love with another man. Finally finding his place among the villagers, a feeling deepened by his crush, Yuki seems headed for a dream life of adventure and camaraderie—and Nao could be the missing piece of that dream.
Titles in the series (2)
- The Easy Life in Kamusari
1
From Shion Miura, the award-winning author of The Great Passage, comes a rapturous novel where the contemporary and the traditional meet amid the splendor of Japan’s mountain way of life. Yuki Hirano is just out of high school when his parents enroll him, against his will, in a forestry training program in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. No phone, no internet, no shopping. Just a small, inviting community where the most common expression is “take it easy.” At first, Yuki is exhausted, fumbles with the tools, asks silly questions, and feels like an outcast. Kamusari is the last place a city boy from Yokohama wants to spend a year of his life. But as resistant as he might be, the scent of the cedars and the staggering beauty of the region have a pull. Yuki learns to fell trees and plant saplings. He begins to embrace local festivals, he’s mesmerized by legends of the mountain, and he might be falling in love. In learning to respect the forest on Mt. Kamusari for its majestic qualities and its inexplicable secrets, Yuki starts to appreciate Kamusari’s harmony with nature and its ancient traditions. In this warm and lively coming-of-age story, Miura transports us from the trappings of city life to the trials, mysteries, and delights of a mythical mountain forest.
- Kamusari Tales Told at Night
2
From Shion Miura, award-winning author of The Easy Life in Kamusari, comes a spirit-lifting novel about tradition, first love, and ancient lore in a Japanese mountain village. It’s been a year since Yuki Hirano left home—or more precisely, was booted from it—to study forestry in the remote mountain village of Kamusari. Being a woodsman is not the future he imagined, but his name means “courage,” and Yuki hopes to live up to it. He’s adapting to his job and learning constantly. In between, he records local legends—tales pulsing with life, passion, and wondrous gods. Kamusari has other charms as well. One of them is Nao. Yuki’s crush on the only other young single person in the village isn’t a secret. Yet how impressed can she be with someone at least five years younger who makes less money and doesn’t even own a car? More daunting, she’s in love with another man. Finally finding his place among the villagers, a feeling deepened by his crush, Yuki seems headed for a dream life of adventure and camaraderie—and Nao could be the missing piece of that dream.
Shion Miura
Shion Miura, the daughter of a well-known Japanese classics scholar, started an online book-review column before she graduated from Waseda University. In 2000, she made her fiction debut with Kakuto suru mono ni mar (A Passing Grade for Those Who Fight), a novel based in part on her own experiences during her job hunt. In 2006, she won the Naoki Prize for her linked-story collection Mahoro ekimae Tada Benriken (The Handymen in Mahoro Town). Her other prominent novels include Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru (The Wind Blows Hard), Kogure-so monogatari (The Kogure Apartments), and Ano ie ni kurasu yonin no onna (The Four Women Living in That House). Fune o amu (The Great Passage) received the Booksellers Award in Japan in 2012 and was developed into a major motion picture. She has also published more than fifteen collections of essays and is a manga aficionado.
Related to Forest
Friendship Fiction For You
In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counterfeit: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Librarianist: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Home: the most moving and heartfelt novel you'll read this year Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Junket Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Bookshop: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thank You For Listening: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lilith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Italian Summer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Birds: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reading List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Second Chances: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now You See Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5We Are the Light: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Started It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful World, Where Are You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Favor: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queenie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Looking for Jane: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So This Is the End: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Girls Must Die Exhausted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Are All Good People Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roommates Wanted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Passage to India Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Forest
45 ratings0 reviews