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California ex-pat Michael Greco has lived in Asia for over 25 years, and his stories are dappled with the character and spirit of Asian communities. He teaches writing in university and has jotted extensively about the joy and frustration of the creative process. He has written for the Asahi Shinbun newspaper in Tokyo, and received his master’s degree in theoretical linguistics, in Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to The Japan Times and online journal The Font. Michael lives in Kyoto, Japan, with his wife, daughter, and a honey-sweet cat named Howard. He uses Japan as a springboard for his frequent forays to other regions of the world, often with his 10-year-old as a travel companion.
Reviewed by Deepak Menon for Readers' Favorite
Having finally ventured to read this book with its irresistibly wacky sounding title, Plum Rains on Happy House by Michael A. Greco, I recommend that the reader start with understanding the author's short dedication, because that will be a taste of the flavor of the book. The story starts with a young American arriving at the door of a little inn named Happy House, situated in some obscure place in Japan. The room had been reserved and everything had been prepared for him. But no one responded, and finally when he did make contact with one of the residents, his journey to his room upstairs, its description and his interactions on the way up the narrow stairs are notable in their peculiarity. One of the Ichiban's fellow residents of Happy House required no actual accommodation for his lodging. He was a Japanese jungle crow adopted by Happy House with important duties—to oversee new tenants, take them in, understand their beings, so to speak, and convey this information back to the house. Occupying Room No 1 made the American, the 'Ichiban,' by default more or less the crow's ward. In fact, Happy House Inn was a peculiar boardinghouse with peculiar tenants, too. Reading on, one understands that peculiar is not a bad state to be in, since there is nothing deviant about it and being peculiar may be more of an acquired characteristic.
Everything that happens in this book needs detailed explanations - such is the aura surrounding each event - and I will not attempt to explain events in their entirety. But I will emphasize that the reader omit nothing and reflect deeply on every word, if he or she desires any level of clarity and wishes to understand later events. Plum Rains on Happy House deserves a five star rating because of its extreme originality, development of the plot, extremely competent drafting and formatting, a riveting style of narration, and the probable creation of a new genre of literature which will be the subject of debate for a long time to come. This book is highly recommended for an adult reader who has the desire to arrive at the truth behind the scheme of things that govern this world. This book is entirely original with an undertone of horror.
