Scattered All Over The Earth

A mind-expanding, cheerfully dystopian new novel by Yoko Tawada, winner of the National Book Award 

"...mordantly funny... More than simply international, her writing is translingual; she leaves the borders between languages open & allows them to cross-pollinate... "   -  Ryan Ruby, The New York Times Book Review

Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.” Hiruko, a former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian).

As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends. Her troupe travels to France, encountering an umami cooking competition; a dead whale; an ultra-nationalist named Breivik; unrequited love; Kakuzo robots; red herrings; uranium; an Andalusian matador. Episodic & mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, & soon they’re all next off to Stockholm. 

"As dire as the quasi-dystopian future could be, with reminders of menacing climate change & Japan’s nuclear history, Tawada’s intrepid travellers seek community & consensus, and, when confronted with the loss of something “original,” they seek out the best copy."  -  Kirkus Reviews

"...possesses both the looseness & wistfulness of extreme displacement... Ms Tawada’s characters are similarly impressionistic: mobile, protean & evanescent, whirled together in a manner that can seem insubstantial but combines to form a vision of beauty & calm."   -  Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

With its intrepid band of companions, Scattered All Over The Earth (the first novel of a trilogy) may bring to mind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or a surreal Wind in the Willows, but really is just another sui generis Yoko Tawada masterwork.