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Overview
According to ancient Japanese protocol, foreigners deigning to approach the emperor did so only with fear and trembling. Terror and self-abasement conveyed respect. Amélie, our well-intentioned and eager young Western heroine, goes to Japan to spend a year working at the Yumimoto Corporation. Returning to the land where she was born is the fulfillment of a dream for Amélie; working there turns into comic nightmare.
Alternately disturbing and hilarious, unbelievable and shatteringly convincing, Fear and Trembling will keep readers clutching tight to the pages of this taut little novel, caught up in the throes of fear, trembling, and, ultimately, delight.
Editorials
Le Point
This book is a little miracle. No, forget the `little.' It is a miracle, plain and simple.O. Magazine
Amelie Nothomb's slim, ingenious novel drops its plucky Belgian heroine, Amelie, into the etiquette-mad hierarchy of Japanese corporate culture.... Amelie's is not a victim's tale but one of transcendence. Every error, every humiliation, becomes an opportunity for spiritual gain, not to mention laugh-out-loud humor laced with surprising pathos. With great delicacy, Nothomb updates the age-old divide between East and West in the delectable little book.The New York Times Book Review
Nothomb demonstrates a shrewd understanding of the intricate ways Japanese relationships are made and spoiled. And she has the classic Japanese corporation dead to right....rich with authenticity...elegantly written.The Wall Street Journal
...polished satire...Newsday
A scathingly funny novella.Wall Street Journal
A polished little satire.Publishers Weekly
A sharp, satiric new novel…Readers are sure to be won over by her spare, self-deprecating and wise tale.Library Journal
An utterly charming, humorous tale of East meets West…Nothomb is a terrific writer whose writing style is simple, honest, and elegant. Very highly recommended.Elle
Nothomb is the latest enfant terrible of French letters…She has an acidic yet passionately romantic view of human nature.Los Angeles Times
Amélie Nothomb adds humor, the ingredient most often missing in other writers from France of her generation, the ingredient most difficult to translate.Kirkus Reviews
Highly entertaining…Fear and Trembling (a perfect title) is filled with both droll observations and wry bitch gags.New York Times Book Review
Elegantly written…Nothomb demonstrates a shrewd understanding of the intricate ways Japanese relationships are made and spoiled."Elle Magazine
If you have ever survived a crazy boss who, in trying to destroy you, only made you stronger, then FEAR AND TREMBLING by Amelie Nothomb is for you.O Magazine
Ingenious...With great delicacy, Nothomb updates the age-old divide between East and West in this delectable little book.Publishers Weekly -
Following on the heels of her American debut (Loving Sabotage), Belgian novelist Nothomb's sharp, satiric new novel--winner of France's Grand Prix de l'Academie Fran aise and the Prix Internet du Livre--revolves around a young Western woman's humiliations at a Tokyo firm. At age 22, Am lie has just landed a bottom-rung job in the import-export division of the powerful Yumimoto Corporation. As a European woman raised partly in Japan, she is at once insider and outsider: she is accused of creating an "appalling tension" by speaking perfect Japanese while serving coffee at a meeting ("How could our business partners have any feeling of trust in the presence of a white girl who understands their language?"), and is ordered to speak only English henceforth. She is awed by her immediate superior, the beautiful and unusually tall Fubuki Mori (whose name means "snowstorm" in Japanese). Fubuki, 29 and still unmarried, has earned her position in the face of debilitating sexism and brutal treatment at the hands of her superiors, especially the ranting, obese Mr. Omochi. Kindly Mr. Tenshi gives Am lie a rare opportunity to prove herself by allowing her to work on an important report; enraged, Fubuki betrays them both, sealing the young girl's fate. Despite her intelligence, Am lie is unable to complete the Sisyphean tasks doled out by her superiors, and Fubuki eventually relegates her to cleaning the rest rooms. Nothomb maintains a humorous and effective detachment throughout--Am lie, for instance, finds comfort in a recurring fantasy of falling through one of the company's 44th-floor windows. Readers are sure to be won over by her spare, self-deprecating and wise tale, which contains many smarting truths about sexism and racism in Japanese society, and even more about the rituals of corporate culture. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
Winner of many literary prizes in France, Nothomb (Loving Sabotage, Stranger Next Door) presents an utterly charming, humorous tale of East meets West in her newest novel about a young Belgian woman who works for a year in Japan, a country that she has revered and admired since childhood. At the Yumimoto Corporation, a huge export/import business, the chain of command is made very clear to her on a daily basis, and all initiative is snuffed out. After several crucial errors, our heroine's career ends up in the toilet, literally. Nothomb is a terrific writer whose writing style is simple, honest, and elegant. Very highly recommended for all libraries.--Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.From the Publisher
"Elegantly written . . . Nothomb demonstrates a shrewd understanding of the intricate ways Japanese relationships are made and spoiled."—The New York Times Book Review"[A] polished little satire."—The Wall Street Journal
"A scathingly funny novella."—Newsday (New York)
"Amélie Nothomb adds humor, the ingredient most often missing in other writers from France of her generation, the ingredient most difficult to translate."—Los Angeles Times
"An utterly charming, humorous tale of East meets West . . . Nothomb is a terrific writer whose writing style is simple, honest, and elegant. Very highly recommended."—Library Journal
"A sharp, satiric new novel . . . Readers are sure to be won over by her spare, self-deprecating and wise tale."—Publishers Weekly
"Highly entertaining . . . Fear and Trembling (a perfect title) is filled with both droll observations and wry bitch gags."—Kirkus Reviews
"There can be no doubt about Amélie Nothomb's talent: her imagination, energy, facility, fertility, her edgy use of language all prove that she is a writer of enormous gifts. Her writing is as sharp as a whip, the perfect antidote to sleep-inducing novels. She wakes you up. She shakes you up . . . Fear and Trembling will keep readers entertained and on the edge of their seats until the final page."—Le Figaro
"More than anything this is a beautiful love story—in which Sappho meets the Marquis de Sade."—Le Nouvel Observateur
"Fear and Trembling is Nothomb at her finest. Never has she been so daring or inspired . . . This book is a small miracle. On second thought, no 'small' about it; it is plain and simple a miracle."—Le Point