From Publishers Weekly In this collection, his American debut, Tsutsui—recipient of a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres—amplifies the absurdities of contemporary life to usually entertaining results. In The Dabba Dabba Tree, the erotic dreams caused by a phallus-shaped plant create havoc, as sleeping and waking life are confused for both dreamers and nondreamers alike. In Rumours about Me, a dull office drone becomes an unwilling celebrity, his every action recounted in breathless detail by the media. Other stories are less lighthearted, such as Commuter Army, featuring a weapons supplier in the thick of a foreign war, and Hello, Hello, Hello! in which a Household Economy Consultant cheerfully insinuates himself into a couple's life and leaches every small happiness from them. Tsutsui is less interested in his characters than in teasing his ideas out as far as possible. While this technique has its cerebral pleasures and his writing can be humorous, the application of his one-size-fits-all narrative mold grows tiresome. (Nov.)
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From School Library Journal Imagine a cross between the music group the B-52s, Thomas Pynchon's V ., Ryu Murakami's Coin Locker Babies , and James Turner's graphic novel Nil: A Land Beyond Belief , throw in a good dose of sf tropes and bitter social satire, and you'll start to get a good idea of what's in store for you in this collection of 13 imaginative stories from one of Japan's best-known sf writers. The climactic (pun intended) title story, "Salmonella Men," depicts a group of beleaguered scientists exploring a new planet dubbed Planet Porno, on which everything has decidedly obscene plans for them. Though the collection is hit-or-miss overall, the title story and "The Dabba Dabba Tree," in which a magical tree affects the dreams of an entire neighborhood, are brilliant examples of Tsutsui's skills as a storyteller. Tsutsui has won numerous awards for his fiction over the years, including the Tanizaki and Kawabata prizes, and he has no problem moving from one genre to another. Driver's translation works well with some stories but sometimes falls flat in trying to capture the wildness of Tsutsui's vision. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.—Andrew Weiss, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu
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