*****

PARADE is the story of five friends who live together in Tokyo, and everything looks calm and ordered.

But there is an undercurrent, something lurking on the background, which does not become apparent until the startling twist right at the conclusion of Shuichi Yoshida’s descriptive of life in Japan.

Parade is a fascinating story of how five people can co-exist, what attracts them to each other and what gets on their nerves, written in each character’s own words. Woven between the nuances of these relationships are the details for which award-winning author Yoshida has become renowned.

The unexpected, but nevertheless almost inevitable conclusion of Parade, brings a brilliant book to a brilliant end.

Roddy Brooks