Stupeur Et Tremblements

by Amélie Nothomb

Paperback, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

813

Tags

Publication

Hachette (2006), 186 pages

Description

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.

Media reviews

Die Mischung aus leichten Dialogen und Hintergrundwissen, aus Sprachwitz und kritischen Reflexionen, aus komischen Episoden und traurigen Wahrheiten macht dieses Buch lesenswert.

User reviews

LibraryThing member kidzdoc
Amélie is a 22 year old recent college graduate of Belgian descent who was born in Japan and seeks to return there to work. She signs a one year contract with a company based in Tokyo, and enters the strange and, for her, inscrutable world of a large Japanese company, with its strict hierarchical
Show More
structure and rules, sexist attitudes and behaviors, and frequent humiliation by supervisors. Amélie is initially given simple tasks, and fails each one spectacularly, due to her incompetent "Western brain". At the same time she antagonizes her immediate supervisor, an strikingly beautiful woman who sacrifices everything to achieve a low level managerial position; as a punishment, she is given more menial tasks, but Amélie struggles even with these chores, until she finally is given a position that she can do without screwing up too badly.

Fear and Trembling is supposedly a novel, but it appears to be based on Nothomb's personal experiences. It's a quick and moderately enjoyable read, with a not very flattering view into the soul crushing world of a large Japanese corporation.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
Fantastic! Quick, intense cultural gap. Perfectly illustrated. This book, set in the contemporary corporate culture of Tokyo, is illuminating, stunning, and oh so witty. Sort of Zen philosophy meets theater of the absurd. A must read!
LibraryThing member chickletta
In this book based on her own life, Amelie returns to her birthplace Japan on a year-long contract as an interpreter for Yumimoto Corporation. The corporation is a place of rigid hierarchy - "Mister Haneda was senior to Mister Omochi, who was senior to Mister Saito, who was senior to Miss Mori, who
Show More
was senior to me. I was senior to no one" begins the author.

Amelie was born in a small Japanese village and spent her formative years there. For her, this job is a dream come true, a return to her childhood. Little does she know of the trials awaiting her. Early on, she incurs the wrath of Mister Omochi when she converses in fluent Japanese with a visiting Japanese delegation to Yumimoto. Her crime - discomfiting the delegation by not knowing her place within the Japanese culture as a Westerner. She is immediately ordered to un-understand Japanese!

Amelie is taken under the wing of a well meaning Mister Tenshi who assigns her the task of writing a report on fat free butter being developed in Belgium. Her success with this report is immediately perceived by her ethereal superior Miss Mori as an attempt to rise too much too soon within Yumimoto without paying her dues.

Little transgressions like these get blown out of proportion and with each such misstep, Amelie is reassigned more belittling tasks. The final blow comes when Miss Mori banishes her to the toilets to clean them, both the men's and women's. Amelie enters a Zen like state by doing this task with all the dignity she can muster. She can quit over this, but doing so would be to lose face before all of Yumimoto.

All of Amelie's tribulations are detailed with a sparkling dry wit and even when you're laughing at Amelie's predicament, you're feeling terribly sorry for her. The most interesting part of the book was for me reconciling the character Amelie's life with that of the author. Amelie Nothomb's life details correspond roughly with much of the character's but you can't help but wonder if there isn't an element of exaggeration in this tale. In India, I've witnessed the fervor with companies train their teams on Japanese cultural norms. But still, if this is the way most Japanese companies run, how are they the leaders in so many fields today?
Show Less
LibraryThing member WinterFox
Living in a foreign country is often not as wondrous and glamorous as it appears to be from the outside. No matter how much you want to get to know your new culture and fit in, there are always differences in the way you approach people or matters, and even if you're trained ahead of time, you
Show More
don't know what they all are, and they can still catch you unawares, and help bring you down.

Such is the case in Nothomb's book, which is a scathing, thinly fictionalized satire of her time working in a large Japanese company. She had wanted to spend time living in Japan again since being there with her parents as a child, and working there is an ideal way to try it, but she missteps with her coworkers time and again, in the most ridiculous ways. For example, after being hired to translate, she is criticized for speaking Japanese in front of people from another company, and forbidden to understand Japanese in the future.

Such indignations are par for the course in this book, and the poisonous relationship between Nothomb and her immediate superior, Ms. Fubuki, provides plentiful other examples. It's a very amusing story, if a bit harsh at points, and can be read very quickly. There aren't a lot of characters, and beyond the main two, they're pretty one-dimensional, but it doesn't really make a difference in a satire. It's not something that's likely to stick with you forever, but it makes for a light, fun summer read. I'd get it out of the library rather than buying it, since it really is finishable in an afternoon, but it's worth a chance.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Litfan
This short novel is both absurdly funny and touchingly sad. It is a fearless exploration of the differences between Eastern and Western culture, shown through the eyes of Amelie, a Japanese-born Belgian woman who has gotten a job in a Japanese corporation. Her experiences range from the absurd
Show More
(being told by a superior that she is no longer allowed to understand Japanese) to the humiliating as she, with the best of intentions, continues to make mistakes and violate cultural norms.

There are some very insightful comments on the nature of Japanese culture; for example, “You find the most outrageous deviants in the countries with the most authoritarian systems.” There is also some very wry, but poignantly accurate, commentary on the duties of Japanese men and women. While Amelie is treated poorly at the company, she provides the context that explains to the reader why her superiors respond the way they do .

This was quite a short novel that could be read in one sitting, but leaves you thinking long afterwards. It is humorous, as well as thought-provoking and enlightening about Japanese culture and the clash that can occur when East meets West. A wonderful piece of literature.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dorin.budusan
Reveals with a refined sense of humour a side of the Japanese society that is less known. Working for a major Japanese company in a low position, Amélie manages to descend even lower. It's easy to read and some of the scenes made me lough out loud.
LibraryThing member EnglishPatient
Grabbed in haste from a bookstall in Geneva, having failed to pack the book I was reading at the time, this book was a happy accident.

Delicate, self-deprecating, and at times very funny, Nothomb shows what can happen if you forget you are a foreigner. Her rapid descent from intern to cleaning the
Show More
toilets is precipitated by speaking perfect Japanese.

I hope the English translation does justice to the beautifully pared-down French.

Another famous Belgian!
Show Less
LibraryThing member bertonek
A quick read, fun, but with a very limited look at the author's life. Not ideal for those who want deep character development.
LibraryThing member 1morechapter
I absolutely loved Fear and Trembling. I actually watched the movie first and loved it as well. I must say it follows the book almost exactly. It’s a fascinating study of the clash of cultures. The book is translated from the French, and the film is a combination of French and Japanese with
Show More
English sub-titles.

In this short semi-autobiographical novel, Amelie Nothomb describes the experiences of ‘Amelie’ during her year at a Japanese corporation. Amelie is smitten with Japan, knows the language, and is ecstatic that she obtained a corporate position as a translator in the country where she was born. The job is not all she hoped, but she tries her best to stick out her position the way a Japanese person would. I found this book (and movie) to be truly fascinating. Nothomb obviously loves Japan and Japanese culture, but even she finds that the differences of East and West are sometimes difficult to overcome.

In speaking of the Japanese woman:

“It is best to avoid any kind of physical pleasure because it is apt to make you sweat. There is nothing more shameful than sweat. If you gobble up a steaming bowl of noodles, if you give in to s*xual craving, if you spend the winter dozing in front of the fire, you will sweat. And no one will be in any doubt that you are coarse.

The choice between sweat and suicide isn’t a choice. Spilling one’s blood is as admirable as spilling sweat is unspeakable. Take your life, and you will never sweat again. Your anxiety will be over for all eternity.”

I own two other books by Nothomb - The Character of Rain and Sulphuric Acid — and I’m very much looking forward to both!

1999, 2001 for the English translation, 132 pp.

4.5/5
Show Less
LibraryThing member lindseynichols
funny, fast, biting and dark. nothomb will rock you with this story about one belgian woman's downward spiral as a corporate translator in japan.
LibraryThing member thorold
Perhaps not a masterpiece, but a very funny and engaging little novel that perhaps tells us as much about office politics in a large organisation as it does about Japanese society. The key to the way the story works is the inevitability of each step in Amélie's absurd progression given the
Show More
relations and status of everyone in the hierarchy around her. Management courses would certainly be more interesting if they gave you this sort of thing to read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MarysGirl
Very funny and quick read. I enjoyed the insight into Japanese culture. The poignancy of a woman of European heritage, born in Japan, but treated like an outsider by all, also comes through. There was a lot of humor, but also some heartbreak. I'm passing it on to my Japanese-obsessed daughter.
LibraryThing member RBeffa
This short novel was a quick and easy read. I enjoyed about the first third of the book immensely as Amélie begins her year working for Yumimoto Corp in Japan. She is the lowest of the lows as a new employee. She takes orders from everyone. Initially she worships her immediate supervisor, Miss
Show More
Mori, who appears to be the only sane person in the corporation and perhaps the only friend she will have. Amélie looks at Miss Mori, a statuesque impossibly beautiful woman with an intensity bordering on obsession. But then by chance she is given an unexpected opportunity by someone in another department and thus begins her downfall, as western ideas of what one should do clash irreconciably with the Japanese corporate culture reality. Miss Mori is not her friend, it turns out. She betrays Amélie to thwart her success. She quickly becomes the torturer intent on making Amélie pay her dues.

At this point the narrative for me makes a fatal turn and becomes almost slapstick. Amélie, a smart intelligent woman is suddenly a borderline idiot. I suppose we are to see this as her reaction to her initiative and smarts being punished, but it was more like a 360 degree turn out of nowhere. She supposedly goes three days without sleep and then finally collapses in the office and covers herself with garbage to keep warm. She no longer had my sympathy, although the narrator was clearly playing for such from the reader. There were some redeeming moments in the story thereafter, but the novel never recaptured (for me) the intial charm of the culture clash.

The middle of the book also contains a rather extended description, almost a rant, about what Japanese women have to endure in their culture. I was immediately struck with the thought of "Where is this coming from? On what basis has the author derived this extensive analysis?; certainly not from her limited interaction with Miss Mori ... and this diatribe certainly broke the rule of show don't tell, by telling us very bluntly whereas we had already been shown (as well as told a bit) parts of this earlier.

At the end I was thinking "glad this is over - at least it wasn't a total bust - let's get on to something else" which is not a good way to feel at the end of a book. Let's just say I felt let down.
Show Less
LibraryThing member shawnd
This is an amazing book. I've heard it's her best, and I am not sure the writing can be improved. Hemingway-esque writing. The plot is funny, sort of a Larry David script meets Hokkaido Highway meets Douglas Coupland. But what is amazing is the sparse, power-packed writing. Reading this is bliss.
Show More
Nothomb here writes a sort of mini-memoir of what her experience was being a young Westerner with some Japanese roots unleashed into the workforce. While I suspect I am not able to diagram what, if anything, in the book is not realistic, the author has such a pleasant voice, and is immediately likeable. This is one of the few books with relationships at the core that I find truly inspiring without being sappy. It perhaps is reminiscent of the recent office novel 'Then We Came to the End'--if you liked that then you'll like this more.
Show Less
LibraryThing member yougotamber
This book has such a simple premise but happens to contain so much thought behind culture. I enjoy Amelie Nothomb, her writing has a certain dark comic side that I find fits perfect with my taste. This book is her most acclaimed with the awards it won, but I enjoyed "The Stranger Next Door" quite a
Show More
bit more than this book. Perhaps because this contained more of an upfront cultural debate and the other contained more mystery. What I will be taking from this... I do like this Author very much and will be seeking out more of her work to read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lhossler
Really entertaining dark comedy about a young woman who thinks she has all the answers only to get slapped down at every turn. No matter what they put her through, she stays peppy.
LibraryThing member nosajeel
Brilliant, mesmerizing, laugh-out-loud funny, insightful, I recommend reading Fear and Trembling-like other Am̩lie Nothomb books--in a single sitting. This one begins with the narrator describing her position as a Westerner in the hierarchy of a Japanese corporation (she's at the bottom) and ends
Show More
with her going through the different people in the hierarchy to resign her position at the end of the year. In between it chronicles her relationships to her superiors in hilarious black comic manner, often spinning out extensive monologues of what she would say to them if she didn't have any self restraint. In the course of it, you get an interesting window into Japanese corporate culture, hierarchy, attitudes towards women, and the concepts around "saving face".

Much of the book centers around the narrator being held back by her immediate boss, a 29 year-old woman who is jealous that this new entrant might be promoted much more quickly than she had been. As a result the narrator's brief attempt to escape into more interesting work is squelched with her denunciation by her immediate boss and leads to a set of cruel consequences for the people around her. Although some of the figures are stereotypes (including the obligatory for a Nothomb novella grossly obese, warped character), they vary and present a rich variety of how people cope with the stresses of operating in hierarchies with life tenure.
Show Less
LibraryThing member casparia
A book about dreaming of another life but something that doesn't really turns out the way you expected. The heroïne gets to work in Japan but have a hard time in getting accepted at the office. Terror described beautifully.
LibraryThing member maliora
I read this in the English translation, which apparently does not exist on goodreads.
LibraryThing member maliora
I read this in the English translation, which apparently does not exist on goodreads.
LibraryThing member LeticiaToraci
This book received the "Grand Prix de l'Academia francaise" for a good reason. It is witty and really well written. I absolutely recommend it.
LibraryThing member Icewineanne
An enjoyable memoir of a western woman (Belgian) taking a job for a large corporation in Tokyo, and how she never does anything right. The corporate cultural differences are hysterical. A quick enjoyable read that opens your eyes to differences. I am glad to live & work in North America,, even
Show More
though according to the author, the Japanese consider us inferior beings LOL!!!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
A novella- the protagonist - called Amelie San takes a job in a Japanese corporation. She signed a 1 year contract. The book depicts the clash of western and eastern culture. Amelie - san ends her career in the toilet. Satirical novel by Amélie Nothomb, first published in 1999, and translated into
Show More
English by Adriana Hunter in 2001. It was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française that year.
Belgian author who actually did spend time in Japan.
Show Less
LibraryThing member stevejwales
I can't believe I've not read this before - it's been sitting on my shelf for ages - and I think I've been missing out.

Young Amélie starts work as a translator at Yumimoto at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, but as she makes a bad impression as soon as she arrives, and continues to break
Show More
Japanese traditions and infuriate her superiors, she is continually demoted until she takes on the job of 'Madame Pipi' in the 44th floor toilets.

Absolutely hilarious - I was trying (and failing) to not burst out laughing and look like an idiot while reading on the bus...
Show Less
LibraryThing member samatoha
a small treasure of a book,with many levels of interpretations,some obvious, some more hidden:
simple and complicated at the same time, it's a magnificent piece that can be thought of as a succesfull zen-budahist experience of the main character, in a Kafkaish,modern world.

Language

Original language

French

Original publication date

1999-08-01

Physical description

186 p.; 4.25 inches

ISBN

9782253150718
Page: 0.4831 seconds