A Personal Matter - Kenzaburo Oe

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=7-9780802150615-0 - Kenzaburo Oe, a resident of Tokyo, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The father of a child with brain damage, A Personal Matter, appears somewhat autobiographical, as it tells the story of Bird, a man whose wife has just given birth to a baby with a severe brain injury. The novel, told from Bird's perspective, follows Bird through the ensuing days as he attempts to cope with the news and his feelings of inadequacy. He wrestles with whether to allow the doctors to operate, knowing his son will never be "normal", or to simply allow the baby to die. As I explained the plot to Sarah, she pointed out that it is similar to The Memory Keeper's Daughter. She's right, but I never would have made the connection because Oe's writing is so raw and powerful - as the Powell's review starts out - it's like a "punch in the face." There were sentences I had to read multiple times to get over my shock that certain words were actually written out on the page. Oe's writing is honest and incredibly brutal, with sex and power politics constantly at play. This book definitely took me out of my comfort zone. It's not for the beach, but it's marvelous overcoming angst reading.