Gold Rush

Winner of the Akutagawa Prize This is the story of Kazuki, an abused & troubled 14-year-old boy in the poor, crime-ridden Japanese port city of Yokohama, who kills his detached, repulsive father & tries to take over his business. However, he soon becomes all too painfully aware of the consequences of his actions.A startling work composed of eerily vivd scenes that possess an animation-like hyper-reality, Gold Rush, a phenomenal best-seller in Japan, is a graphic, violent, controversial novel of the corruption of modern Japan & its youth.°°°Yu Miri (published elsewhere in English as Miri Yu) is amulti-award-winning Japanese author of Korean descent from Yokohama. Her work engages with topics such as Japan’s high suicide rate,the neglect of children, & the troubles faced by those of arguably ambiguous national identity, such as the zainichi kankokujin group (ethnic Koreans born & raised in Japan). Yu has won numerous awards, including the coveted Akutagawa Prize in 1997 for Kazoku Shinema (Family Cinema), & has a vast readership in both Japan & South Korea, with her works being translated into several other languages. In 2002, Gold Rush appeared in an English translation by Stephen Snyder "Story of a 14-year-old boy raised by his detached, repulsive father in the poor, crime-ridden Japanese port city of Yokohama. Like his father, Kazu is also obsessed with money but is cold and indifferent toward his own feelings and possesses an uncontrollable and violent temper. One night, taunted by his father, Kazu calmly kills him and hides his body in a secret vault in the basement. With his father "missing," he tries to take over his father's business and resume his "normal" life. But as his world and his alibi slowly start to crumble around him, Kazu becomes painfully aware of the consequences of his actions."--Jacket This is the story of Kazuki, an abused and troubled 14-year-old boy in the poor, crime-ridden Japanese port city of Yokohama, who kills his detached, repulsive father and tries to take over his business. However, he soon becomes all too painfully aware of the consequences of his actions.