Bibliograph

Lady Joker, Kaoru Takamura ; translated from the Japanese by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell

Type

Label

Lady Joker, Kaoru Takamura ; translated from the Japanese by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

novels

Main title

Lady Joker

Responsibility statement

Kaoru Takamura ; translated from the Japanese by Marie Iida and Allison Markin Powell

Summary

Tokyo, 1995: Five men meet at the racetrack every Sunday to bet on horses. They have little in common except a deep disaffection with their lives, but together they represent the social struggles and griefs of post-War Japan: a poorly socialized genius stuck working as a welder; a demoted detective with a chip on his shoulder; a Zainichi Korean banker sick of being ostracized for his ethnicity; a struggling single dad of a teenage girl with Down syndrome. The fifth man bringing them all together is an elderly drugstore owner grieving his grandson, who has died suspiciously. Intent on revenge against a society that values corporate behemoths more than human life, the five conspirators decide to carry out a heist: kidnap the CEO of Japan's largest beer conglomerate and extract blood money from the company's corrupt financiers

Target audience

adult

Contributor

Creator