Bicycle Days

by SCHWARTZ, JOHN BURNHAM

• ISBN13: 9780375702754
• ISBN10: 037570275X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-27
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

When Alec Stern arrives in Japan, he discovers a land of opportunity. For only in Tokyo could an impressionable young man fresh out of college find, in one stroke, a new job, a new family, and a society that lavishes attention on Japanese-speakinggaijin. Yet, even as Alec claims a place in this new world, he is haunted by memories of the one he left behinda world once infinitely secure but which disintegrated with the breakup of his parents' marriage. In this incandescently observed novel, John Burnham Schwartz introduces readers to one of the most appealing protagonists in contemporary fiction while enchanting them with the keenness of his eye and the aptness of his voice. Through its exquisitely rendered scenesa fishing trip of Zen-like serenity; a night at a sex club where giggling businessmen dive into the actionand vividly imagined charactersthe laughing mother who taught Alec to ride a bicycle; the beautiful sad Japanese woman who teaches him how to loveBicycle Dayssurprises, moves, and enlightens us as very few books do.

Author Biography

Jophn Burnham Schwartz is the autho of <b>Reservation Road</b>. He lives in New York City with his wife, filmmaker Aleksandra Crapanzano.

Table of Contents

Tremors	11	(17)
Blank Tape	17	(7)
Christmas Cake	24	(12)
Lost And Found	36	(5)
Grapefruit Juice	41	(4)
Bristles	45	(5)
Hospitalization	50	(5)
Accounts	55	(6)
Headache	61	(6)
Motorcycle Dreams	67	(5)
Fuji-San	72	(6)
Making Sushi	78	(7)
The Club Scene	85	(4)
Stripes	89	(6)
Promise	95	(6)
Wheel Of Fortune	101	(5)
The Force Of Nature	106	(5)
Gifts	111	(8)
Love	119	(2)
Blind Spot	121	(2)
Taking Leave	123	(5)
Godzilla Vs. The Smog Monster	128	(6)
Yamadera	134	(20)
Brothers	154	(3)
A Home For Echoes	157	(6)
O-Miai	163	(6)
Hands	169	(6)
Second Place	175	(9)
Slow Dancing	184	(4)
Foreigner	188	(8)
Time Apart	196	(13)
Heartland	209	(4)
Ten Days	213	(7)
Loss	220	(6)
Bicycle Days	226	(8)
Air	234	(3)
Tunnel of Hearts	237	(5)
Catch At The Imperial Place	242	(4)
Morning	246	(5)
Masks	251