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 and 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 and mesmerizing scenes flash vividly along, and soon they’re all next off to Stockholm. 

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

"...possesses both the looseness and wistfulness of extreme displacement... Ms Tawada’s characters are similarly impressionistic: mobile, protean and evanescent, whirled together in a manner that can seem insubstantial but combines to form a vision of beauty and 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.