Lit in Translation

The Gun

銃 · Jū

Fuminori Nakamura (中村文則, born 1977)

Translated by Allison Markin Powell

English editions

In English

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Nishikawa, a student, picks up a handgun lying next to a body on a riverbank in the pouring rain. He has never known anything so beautiful, and the weapon, a machine bound directly to death, steadily takes hold of him: he falls into a solitude without relief, his fantasies turn crueller, and he grows sure that he will shoot it someday. News of the death on television and an unexpected call from a detective close in on him as he moves toward a decision.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
187 pages in the original
Genres
Crime (assigned by AI)
Set in
Japan
First published
2002 by Shinchosha
Author's age
25 when first published
ISBN

9784104588015 (original)

9781616955908 (Soho Press, United States)