A Certain Mr. Takahashi

by Ann Ireland

Winner of the 1985 Seal Books First Novel Award and of the Books in Canada First Novel Award

To Mrs. Hopper, Yoshi Takahashi may be just another name from her daughters’ past, but for Jean and her sister, Colette, he stands for much more. Years ago, Mr. Takahashi moved into their Toronto neighbourhood and sent the adolescent lives of Jean and Colette into a tailspin. They weren’t content merely to befriend the Japanese pianist - in their infatuation they sought to mirror his life as closely as possible.

The enchantment lingers into adult life in ways both sisters are reluctant to recognize. This weekend they have been invited to an extravagant family celebration in Victoria, B.C. As the party gains momentum, so does the tension between the sisters. As before, the larger-than-life Mr. Takahashi casts his spell.

Originally published in 1985, A Certain Mr. Takahashi won the coveted Seal First Novel Award and the Books in Canada/W.H. Smith First Novel Award.

Genres: Fiction

206 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 1985

About the author

Ann Ireland (1953–2018) was a Canadian fiction author who published five novels between 1985 and 2018. Her first novel, A Certain Mr. Takahashi (1985), was the winner of the Seal $50,000 1st Novel Award. She also wrote 1996's The Instructor, which was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award, and 2002's Exile, which was shortlisted for the 2002 Governor General's Awards and the Rogers Writers’ Trust fiction prize.

Ireland was born in Toronto, Ontario. She studied at the University of British Columbia, from which she earned a BFA in creative writing in 1976. She is a past president of PEN Canada and for many years, up until the time of her death, was a writing instructor and the coordinator of the Writing Workshops Department at the Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University in Toronto. Her 1985 novel, A Certain Mr. Takahashi, was the basis for the 1991 feature film The Pianist.

Her final novel, 2018's Where's Bob?, was published in May 2018, shortly before her death of carcinoid syndrome at the age of 65.

Reviews

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an impulse buy for my KOBO...I'd like to give it 2 and a half stars...it was a bit more than OK but not as good as other books I have given 3 stars to.

Jean and Colette are teenagers when the enigmatic Mr Takahashi moves in across the road. Both girls develop a crush on him and manoeuvre themselves into running into him 'accidentally on purpose" and eventually are invited inside his house and ultimately have their first sexual experience with him. He is a famous concert pianist...the girls father is a cellist and Jean also plays the cello. Eventually the girls grow up and move away from home, but their sibling rivalry over Mr Takahashi remains for several years. The climax of the book occurs when the parents give a large party to celebrate their new house in the waterfront in Victoria and secrets become known. There is a potentially hilarious scened involving sex in a portable John...but I was too put off by the description of the disinfectant. The action moves backwards and forwards in time, the characters are well drawn it is a good light read.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd had this book for years before finally deciding to read it. The most accurate description I can give in a word: strange. I still don't understand what message/point the author was trying to get across. It was also difficult to follow because the author repeatedly changed time and place and characters sometimes from one sentence to another but more often from paragraph to paragraph. It almost qualifies as a dystopian novel.
Did I like/enjoy the book? I'm not certain how to respond except to say I wanted to keep reading to find out if any of questions were resolved and if so how and were they satisfactorily resolved. NO to both questions.

[Elizabeth Godley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Very ambiguous ending. Interesting and multi-faceted protagonist.