The summer house

DEBUT This novel focuses on architecture of the 1970s and '80s, specifically Japanese modernism, which integrates traditional and innovative design principles. The narrator is Tōru Sakanishi, a recent university graduate, who describes the inner workings of the Murai Office of Architectural Design in Tokyo as it prepares to enter a design competition to build Japan's National Library of Modern Literature, which will house books published after World War II. The firm's owner, Shunsuke Murai, a former apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, directs and influences all aspects of the library's design as staff members carry out assigned tasks. Most of this takes place at the Summer House, a rambling structure at the foot of an active volcano to which the office has temporarily relocated for relief from a sweltering Tokyo. While some of the novel's characterizations appear flat and one-dimensional, local flora and fauna are portrayed in great detail. In addition, Matsui painstakingly analyzes real architecture, particularly iconic library buildings like Gunnar Asplund's Stockholm Public Library. Translated by National Book Award winner Mitsutani. VERDICT First published in Japan in 2012, Matsuie's Yomiuri Prize for Literature-winning debut examines the influence of Western culture on postwar Japan and the clash of modernity and tradition.--Jacqueline Snider

Elegantly understated novel of a tenuous love affair in modern Japan. Tōru Sakanishi is in his early 20s, an apprentice architect who is fortunate enough to earn an entry-level position with the Murai Office of Architectural Design, headed by a renowned architect who had studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. Known as Sensei, or teacher, Murai is a stern leader, but a man brimming with ideas. Competing to build a new Library of Modern Literature, his chief rival a contemporary named Kei'ichi Funayama, Sensei takes his crew to the mountains to escape the summer heat of Tokyo, occupying the simple house of the title. Sensei has strong attachments to the place, not least of them a woman with whom he has a discreet relationship. While Sensei ponders a design for the new library--"We need a brand-new concept that users will find convincing. Just explaining it verbally won't be enough, though. The building has to be designed to actually show them what you're getting at"--Sakanishi muddles his way through, failing in his delegated task to design stacking chairs "because [he] couldn't get the angle between the seat and legs right." Moreover, he's thoroughly distracted by Sensei's niece, Maruko Murai, who disarms him by saying, "You're good at sharpening pencils." A knowing colleague warns him off, saying that an interoffice romance is strictly forbidden, but adding, "Of course, if you decided to quit, you could move in on her right away in the time you had left." Sakanishi doesn't take the warning, but in any event, things don't unfold in quite the way he wishes. Matsuie, renowned as an editor (of Haruki Murakami, among other writers) before becoming an author, delivers a simple but graceful tale that's full of intriguing asides on architecture, which Sensei insists is "function, pure and simple." A novel packed with ideas about art, life, and love. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.