Book description
For decades now, Pico Iyer has been based for much of the year in Nara, Japan, where he and his Japanese wife, Hiroko, share a two-room apartment. But when his father-in-law dies suddenly, calling him back to Japan earlier than expected, Iyer begins to grapple with the question we all…
Why read it?
1 author picked Autumn Light as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Iyer invited me into his two-room flat in the neighborhood of Deer’s Slope, a suburb of Nara in Japan, in the dying days of autumn following his father-in-law’s death.
His descriptions painted scenes of nuanced colors and textures, juxtaposing old and new, thick with metaphor and simile—the only way to talk about the impermanence he explores. His question: “How to hold on to things we love even though we know that we and they are dying?” My question as well.
I watched him play ping pong with quirky Japanese elders at the local health club and wandered through his thoughts…
From Lynn's list on The best memoirs that crack open an unknown, brutal, and beautiful world.
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