The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike, translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm



Formats - Print

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genre: Ghosts/Haunting, Thriller

Audience: Adult

Diversity: Japanese characters

Takes Place in: Japan

Content Warnings: Animal Death, Child Death, Child Endangerment, Suicide, Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Forced Captivity (Highlight to view)

Blurb:

A terrifying tale of a young family who move into an apartment building next to a graveyard and the horrors that are unleashed upon them. One of the most popular writers working in Japan today, Mariko Koike is a recognized master of detective fiction and horror writing. Known in particular for her hybrid works that blend these styles with elements of romance, The Graveyard Apartment is arguably Koike’s masterpiece. Originally published in Japan in 1986, Koike’s novel is the suspenseful tale of a young family that believes it has found the perfect home to grow in to, only to realize that the apartment’s idyllic setting harbors the specter of evil and that longer they stay, the more trapped they become. This tale of a young married couple who are harboring a dark secret is packed with dread and terror, as they and their daughter move into a brand new apartment building built next to a graveyard. As strange and terrifying occurrences begin to pile up, people in the building begin to move out one by one, until the young family is left alone with someone... or something... lurking in the basement. The psychological horror builds moment after moment, scene after scene, culminating with a conclusion that will make you think twice before ever going into a basement again.

Next up for Asian and Pacific American heritage month, is a new translation of Mariko Koike's popular 1986 horror novel, The Graveyard Apartment.

The Graveyard Apartment had a great premise; a married couple and their young daughter move into a haunted apartment near a cemetery and creepy shit keeps happening, but they're unwilling to move due to their financial situation, societal pressure to appear normal, and the husband's deep denial that anything is wrong. The book explores their feelings of emptiness and isolation and their struggle with their fears, both mundane and supernatural. But what should have been amazing ended up being very, well, "meh". So how exactly does one manage to fuck up what should have been a fool proof haunted house formula? 

You had ONE JOB.

To be completely fair, much of the awkward writing present in the English version could very well be due to translation problems. But unless the translator of The Graveyard Apartment pulled a 4KIDs Entertainment and just started making up random shit and cutting out half the story, there's only so much you can blame on her. The problems with the book go far beyond a language barrier issue. The biggest setback is that half the story seems pointless (maybe the translator should have cut some of it out after all). Koike spends more time on random details, like what her main character, Misao, is wearing, than she does on the evil entity haunting the building. There's even an entire chapter, later on in the book, dedicated to visiting a realtor's office and looking at new apartments. Can you handle the terror as her husband, Teppei, walks their daughter to school? Shiver as the doomed couple look at rental listings within their budget! 

The story takes place in the 80's so I tried to give her poofy 80's hair. I was not successful.

And even when Koike does finally get to the creepy stuff, it's a crapshoot whether or not it actually has anything do with the plot or just more random detailing. For example; early on in the book we discover Teppei's first wife, Reiko, committed suicide because he was cheating on her with Misao. So you'd think that Reiko's vengeful spirit would somehow be involved in the plot. Well, you'd be wrong. The suicide backstory serves no purpose other than highlighting what a remorseless dick Teppei is. We also learn that at one point there were plans to build an underground shopping center, but they were abandoned after the initial tunnel was built. So maybe the project disturbed the graves above and angered the spirits? Nope. The project was abandoned because people didn't want the cemetery relocated, so the graves were pretty much left alone. Actually we never learn why the ghosts (or demons, or monsters, or whatever) are such huge assholes. Usually ghosts haunt the living because they're pissed off about being murdered or moved, or having a Taco Bell built over their remains, but these entities just like to lock doors, mess with the elevators, and put handprints on the glass, because.... reasons. I dunno, maybe they just really hate whoever does the building maintenance, or they're a bunch of drunk frat boys.

Not so much evil as incredibly irritating.

The story and characters are well written enough, it just isn't scary. Well, except for the ending, where all the horror gets crammed into the last few chapters of the book. It's like Koike suddenly went "Shit! I've got four chapters left, and the scariest things in the book so far are a creepy basement and being forced to into awkward social situations!" (Granted, awkward social situations are much scarier than any demonic entity). So then the ghosts (or demons, or whatever) go from mildly irritating to eldritch abominations with god damn superpowers and a lust for blood.

Oh, and just as the story is starting to get scary and suspenseful? It finishes with a vague, open ending and we STILL don't know what the fuck is wrong with the building! To top it off, the ending isn't even part of the actual story, it's a freaking epilogue! WHAT? There was all this slow buildup up for the most underwhelming payoff ever. Way to get my hopes up, Koike! Look, The Graveyard Apartment isn't a bad book overall, which is why I didn't knock it down to "not recommended", it just doesn't work as a haunted house story.

Cacy & Kiara and the Curse of the Ki'i by Roy Chang

Formats - Print

Publisher: Beach House

Genre: Ghosts/Haunting, Thriller, Comedy, Myths and Folklore

Audience: Children

Diversity: Asian American characters, Hapa characters, Native Hawaiian characters, Pacific Islander characters

Takes Place in: Hawaiʻi, USA

Content Warnings: Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Bullying, Animal Death, Child Endangerment, Violence, Death (Highlight to view)


 Blurb:

Cacy and Kiara are sixth grade cousins who couldn’t be more different from each other. When their two schools take the same field trip to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Cacy and Kiara are thrown into an adventure filled with mystery and murder. In order to save the park--and themselves--from certain destruction, they call upon their family ‘aumäkua (personal gods), receive guidance from the Goddesses Hi‘iaka and Pele, and befriend the inhabitants of a secret Menehune village. Throughout their adventure, they learn the power of their connection to ancient Hawai‘i and the importance of working together. Over sixty manga-style illustrations accompany the story adding another layer of action to an already action-packed tale.

Happy Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month! With the recent popularity of Pokemon Sun and Moon, and Disney’s Moana, I figured I'd cover a Polynesian book this time. Luckily, I recently visited the big island of Hawaiʻi* with my wife (we were on our honeymoon, and as a newlywed I have to mention my marriage approximately 50,000 times) and made a stop at Basically Books while in downtown Hilo, because no honeymoon is complete without picking up a few scary stories at the local bookstore!


Of course I had to get something by Glen Grant and Rick Carroll, two of Hawaii's most prominent horror authors, but I also picked up a children's chapter book by a local comic artist, Roy Chang, entitled Cacy & Kiara and the Curse of the Ki'i. Although it's much more of a crime thriller than straight horror, (though it does have its moments, like the ghostly hitchhiker *shudder*), I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to include it on the site. The story stars two 11-year-old cousins, the brave and brash Cacy, and the intelligent, yet aloof Kiara, who stumble upon a crime in progress and accidentally release the curse of a long forgotten idol. Now they're in a race against time to undo the curse before Pele destroys the island in her anger. Oh, and they're being chased by an international crime syndicate who wants the idol for themselves, just in case you thought things were too easy. Luckily the girls are aided on their adventure by the Menehune, ʻaumākua, and other figures from Hawaiian mythology.


When I first started reading Chang's book, I thought it was self published. The entire thing was riddled with run-on sentences, awkward phrasing, grammatical errors, and even a few typos. But nope! Cacy & Kiara went through an actual publishing house, which means, presumably, there was some sort of a professional editing process. Though, in this case, "professional editing process" most likely means that they waited until the last minute, panicked, and decided to just run the manuscript through spell check. That, or someone accidentally hired a walrus in a hat and made them an editor. Granted, Beach House is a small publisher, but you'd think that would mean their projects would get more attention and care, not less. 

Yeah, I'm going with the Walrus theory.

Poor editing aside, the book isn't bad. It's creative, humorous, and I love the concept behind it. But Chang is clearly a much better artist than author, used to telling his stories through images rather than words. His art is so full of energy and expression that it does a much better job at capturing his creative ideas than the long, awkward, blocks of text he writes. In all honestly, I'd love to see the story done as a graphic novel because the ideas behind it are solid, the action scenes captivating, and the characters of Cacy and Kiara are bursting with energy and life. It'd be interesting to compare his Steampunk comic book series, Highball and Pepe, with Cacy & Kiara and see which one does a better job at telling the story. But, Chang, for the love of all that is holy, please erase your pencil lines! It just makes the art look messy and unfinished. Maybe the editor just published the rough draft instead of waiting for the final product? Because his other artwork doesn't seem to suffer from the same problem.

I think we all know who to blame here.

But, when I finally put down my red pen and stopped nitpicking, I really enjoyed the book. About halfway through I got caught up in the action and suspense, and the novel really hit its stride. It made me think of the awesome cartoons from the 80's - sure the writing was absurd and hackneyed, and the animation was full of errors, but we didn't care! The action, fun characters, and creativity is what made us love them, and what made such an impression on us as kids. I can just picture Cacy and Kiara teaming up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or piloting a nēnē goose mecha. Honestly, the book is intended for kids, and most kids are not going to care about Oxford commas or the flow of dialogue when Kiara's flying a giant owl and Cacy is trapped in a truck that's about to explode.



I would so watch this cartoon

Even better, Chang has made the story educational without being preachy, unlike some of our childhood favorites (looking at you Captain Planet). This would be an awesome book to hand to a kid before a visit to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, because learning about Hawaiian myths and ecology is a lot more fun when it involves high speed chases and international crime syndicates. There's even a glossary of terms in the back (though I question why eruption was included but musubi wasn't). Anyone familiar with the Big Island will be delighted to see references to popular locations such as Ken's House of Pancakes, the Thurston Lava Tube, the Volcano House, and Pu`uhonua O Hōnaunau (all places I got to visit during my honeymoon). So, if you want to read an awesome adventure story about two spunky, tween girls, while learning about the big island of Hawai'i (and you’re not a huge grammarian) I would definitely recommend this book.

*At the time of writing this I didn't realize how much tourism is hurting Hawaii, even before Covid and the water shortage, and how most Native Hawaiians don't want people visiting their illegally occupied land.