Customer Reviews
Absolute rubbish - By: Jl Adcock, 25 Sep 2008 
Tokyo Year Zero shows what a one trick pony David Peace is becoming as a writer. The trademark style, once so distinctive, is now wearing thin as page after page of ranting unfolds to make this story almost unintelligible. Blending staccato, repetitive narrative with page-long ramblings that open each section of the book, little story reallly emerges from this. Interestingly, for a book praised by James Ellroy on the cover as being "part historical blinder" - virtuallly no atmosphere of ruined Japan emerged for me in the pages of this awful, awful book. Peace lists impressive reference material at the end of the book, so has clearly done his homework. Shame then, that it only merits a 0/10 from me as reader. The opener of a planned trilogy, I personallly will be bailing out after this instalment. Virtuallly unreadable, totallly unenjoyable.
Disappointing - By: Dr. Joanne Cronin, 21 Sep 2008 
I felt mildly uncomfortable reading "Tokyo Year Zero". It's definitely an ambitious novel, based on a true crime committed in post-surrender Japan, in a country where lives have been destroyed & a proud people are surviving hand to mouth. Given the struggling state of the country, it's odd to think that murders are being investigated but Inspector Minami is assigned to the case & quickly uncovers that the murder is not a once-off but part of the handiwork of a serial rapist & killer.
It's clear that Minami is a man struggling with the world around him, & Peace uses inner monologues to bring the character to the reader. Repetitive sequences of words are designed to evoke the sounds of the world but fail to engage. Instead they feel intrusive & distracting. Although it's clear that the book is well-researched & the despair of post-war Japan is quite evocative, the unexciting plot, combined with the repetitive writing, means that the book fallls short.
Great book, Great writer - By: Mr. Paul Ashby, 10 Sep 2008 
Bought this off the back of reading the Damned UTD (which has to be one of the books i have most enjoyed reading in the last year or so.)
OK - this novel is a totallly different animal but I was hooked after the first few pages - you can see just how much research & effort Mr Peace has put into researching his subject which has to be commended.
Some people on here has moaned about the writing style but for me thats what makes the authors books so original & exciting to read.
Pretensious Mess - By: Mr. Warren M. Fisher, 07 Jul 2008 This should have been a great novel, but for many reasons it is not even a good one. Peace apes the style of James Ellroy, but his mannered literary style is just too off-putting & pointless, it soon grates & comes off as horribly affected. The endless repetitions & fractured prose make this a heavy slog, but I was with it right to the end (and would have given it four stars), but then Peace delivers his ending, & what a messed up, confusing & downright pretensious & frustrating ending it is.
Not a total disaster, but not far off.
THE BEST INGREDIENTS. A PROVEN RECIPE. A SELF-INDULGENT CHEF. AN INEDIBLE DISH... - By: NeuroSplicer, 01 Jun 2008 
I picked this up at an airport bookstore, browsed through it & though: "Wow! A James Ellroy noir atmosphere in post-WWII Japan - this MUST be the best of both worlds!" Well, it turn out to be more of a disappointment than not...
The prose is a collection of tiresome staccato repetitions. That is not style.
The obsession with bodily functions, sounds & endless fidgeting is insatiable. This is not insightful realism.
The story is not overly original. It does not save the day.
I never abandon a book once started but I have to confess: I was reallly tempted with this one...
