눈물점

三島屋変調百物語 #6

by Miyuki Miyabe, 미야베 미유키

미야베 미유키 일생의 과업 ‘미시마야 시리즈’의 새로운 문이 열린다!

한밤중. 첫째 형수가 둘째 사위의 방에서 몰래 나오는 광경을 목격한 가족이 이를 추궁하자 첫째 형수는 아무것도 기억나지 않는다며 눈물을 흘린다. 이때 첫째 형수의 눈 밑에 있던 눈물점이 톡 튀어나와 구석으로 도망치는 걸 알아차린 사람은 이 집의 막내딸뿐이었다. 며칠 후 새벽에는 둘째 형수가 셋째 누나의 남편을 덮친다.

혼비백산한 가족이 고함을 지르며 추궁해도 몽롱할 뿐인 둘째 형수의 눈 밑에서 또 다시 눈물점이 톡 튀어나와 도망치는 걸 본 사람은 역시 막내딸뿐이었는데. 핏기 없는 새하얀 피부에 검은 옻을 한 방울 떨어뜨린 것처럼 매끈매끈 빛나는 눈물점. 난데없이 생겼다가 사건을 일으키고 도망쳐 버리는 눈물점의 정체는 대관절 무엇인가.

작가 미야베 미유키는 『눈물점』을 발표하며 다음과 같이 말했다. “작가로서 미시마야 시리즈에 몰입할 때야말로 이야기의 가장 재미있는 부분을 쓰고 있다는 기분이 듭니다. 시작으로부터 12년, 이번 책으로 겨우 31화까지 진행하였습니다. 백물어라고 하는 것은 마지막까지 이야기해 버리면 정말로 괴이가 일어나 버리기 때문에 99화에서 완결할 예정입니다.” 접기

664 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2020

About the author

See also 宮部 みゆき (Japanese language profile) and 宮部美幸 (Chinese language profile).

Miyuki Miyabe (宮部みゆき Miyabe Miyuki) is a popular contemporary Japanese author active in a number of genres including science fiction, mystery fiction, historical fiction, social commentary, and juvenile fiction.
Miyabe started writing novels at the age of 23. She has been a prolific writer, publishing dozens of novels and winning many major literary prizes, including the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize in 1993 for Kasha and the Naoki Prize in 1998 for Riyū [The Reason] (理由). A Japanese film adaptation of Riyû, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, was released in 2004.

Reviews

[Jessica.M]

I love the author and the series, but this one is quite boring 🥱

[Erika]

It was entertaining as always.
Reading about Edo (later changes its name to Tokyo) and seeing all those familiar names popping up was fun.
The stories themselves were intriguing as well.
However, whenever I read the short stories in this series, I feel like I've already read the story before.
There ARE some variations, but all the stories start to sound the same after a while.

But the last story (黒武御神火御殿) which consisted 55% of the book, had a new aspect and I enjoyed that story thoroughly. The Christianity and how it was accepted and banned in the Edo era Japan, and how Daimyos reacted to the religion was fun to read. I liked how the author didn't make the religion itself a bad thing and made the obsession and selfishness the villain of the story.

I don't think I'll read the book anytime soon, but it was just creepy and intriguing enough for me to not want to put the book down.

memo:
Reserved on 2020/9/28, arrived on 2021/3/16