An Echo of Heaven

In An Echo of Heaven, Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe tells the riveting story of Marie Kuraki, a seductive, perverse intellectual whose two young sons, one retarded and one crippled, commit suicide. Thus begins Marie's intellectual, spiritual, and sexual journey to find meaning in this horrific tragedy. Oe, who draws a provocative but sympathetic portrait of Marie, supplements his narrative with old letters and journal entries from those whose lives she influenced.

Oe's prose (as translated by Margaret Mitsutani) is cold and precise, perhaps to maintain emotional distance since Oe himself has a mentally handicapped son. The description of Marie's quest also affords him the opportunity to engage in profound reflections on faith, sin, death, sexuality, heaven, and hell. --Madeline Crowley