num_pages: 256
description: After spending sixteen years in prison for a crime of the heart, Shiro Kikutani is released into a world he no longer recognizes. He must readjust to the bright and vigorous stimulus of Tokyo while fending off his own dark memories. In a spare yet powerful style, Akira Yoshimura paints the psychology of a quiet man navigating his way through the unsuspected traumas of freedom-finding a job, finding a home, even something as simple as buying an alarm clock. Kikutani takes comfort in the numbing repetition of his new daily life, only to be drawn inexorably back to the scene of his crime. A subtly powerful story, On Parole explores the fragile life of a murderer and the conditions of freedom in an unforgiving society. Yoshimura's startling novel raises provocative questions of guilt and redemption.
language: English
title: On Parole;Harvest Book
titlecomplete: On Parole;Harvest Book
characters: Kikutani, Kiyoura, Takebayashi, Akiyama, Tokoyo
genres: Asian Literature, Japan, Asia, Novels, Japanese Literature, 20th Century, Literature, Contemporary, Fiction, Crime
ratings_count: 513
places: Tokyo
publisher: HarperVia