Review: Trinity Trinity Trinity by Erika Kobayashi

Trinity Trinity Trinity by Erika Kobayashi, trans. Brian Bergrstrom
Astra House

Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Paperback. 240 pages.

About Trinity Trinity Trinity:

""Delicately weaves generations of women to the lasting wounds of nuclear destruction and the hubris of war. A unique and unforgettable novel." —Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light

A literary thriller about the effects of nuclear power on the mind, body, and recorded history of three generations of Japanese women.

Nine years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, Japan is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. An unnamed narrator wakes up in a cold, sterile room, unable to recall her past. Across the country, the elderly begin to hear voices emanating from black stones, compelling them to behave in strange and unpredictable ways. The voices are a symptom of a disease called “Trinity.”

As details about the disease come to light, we encounter a thread of linked histories—Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, the discovery of radiation, the nuclear arms race, the subsequent birth of nuclear energy, and the disaster in Fukushima. The thread linking these events begins to unravel in the lead-up to a terrorist attack at the Japan National Olympic Stadium.

A work of speculative fiction reckoning with the consequences of the past and continued effects of nuclear power, Trinity, Trinity, Trinity follows the lives of three generations of women as they grapple with the legacy of mankind's quest for light and power."

I'm not entirely sure how to describe this one, and I'm honestly not even sure whether I liked it or not, but let's dive in and see if I can't figure out it out during this review. 

Trinity Trinity Trinity is a speculative fiction story set in Japan in the months leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and still very much in the shadow of the Fukushima disaster that occurred in 2011. A mysterious illness dubbed "Trinity" has begun affecting elderly people, causing dementia-like symptoms alongside stranger behaviors revolving around an obsession with radiated black stones that they seem to believe are speaking to them.

The story follows three generations of women: a grandmother, her middle-aged daughter, and her teenage granddaughter, and all three of their lives become entangled within the climate of fear surrounding Trinity, the excitement surrounding the Olympics, and numerous other cultural and historical threads. Although we spend some time with all three women, we spend the most time with the mother throughout the book. 

This book attempts to explore quite a lot: the aftermath of Fukushima and its impact on Japan, nuclear history and humanity's relationship with nuclear technology, the cultural significance of the Olympics (including previous Olympic bids and visits to Japan), intergenerational issues, motherhood, and even touches of mythology. There's really a lot going on, and given how much the story tries to tackle, I don't know that it really had quite enough space to explore every topic in depth. Instead, we get more of a broad survey of these ideas rather than a deep dive into any one of them--but even as I say that, I still think it did a pretty good job with some of the issues over others.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, and I think it's very inventive in how it approaches the aforementioned themes. The writing itself is captivating in its own way, and I found it to be poetic in some places, almost dreamlike in others, and generally reflective throughout. At times, however, I found it sometimes a bit muddled and dense in its own right--not exactly difficult to understand, but difficult to follow or connect--and there was an aspect to it that made me feel like I was missing something. I'm not entire sure if it's the translation or how the writing is meant to be, so I'm a little hesitant to say anything definitively, but either way it did affect my reading experience slightly. Perhaps this is meant to simply reflect the overall tone of the story and how it's also the slightest bit confusing and chaotic, in which case it does that very well. 

The "plot," however, almost felt nonexistent in a sense, and I struggled to understand what was happening or what the overall point was supposed to be. I don't mind plotless stories--that wasn't really the main issue for me--but I struggled with how things often felt so fragmented and haphazard that I wasn't always sure what to do with the ideas being presented.

I actually found myself most captivated by the Trinity illness itself and the idea of elderly people essentially becoming "radiation terrorists" of sorts. That concept was fascinating, and I really wanted the novel to spend more time with it. However, if you're going into this book expecting that aspect to make up 90% of the story, you'll probably be disappointed. It is explored, but in a much more literary way than readers who are expecting a straightforward science fiction or dystopian novel might anticipate; it's not really about the illness so much as what it means and represents.

Overall, I think this is a meaningful novel and potentially an important one, but I also suspect its style of storytelling will leave some readers wondering what exactly they just read and struggling to connect with it. This very much feels like a "your mileage may vary" kind of book. If you enjoy translated literary fiction and don't mind ambiguity, I highly recommend giving it a try. If that's not your thing at all, though, this may not be the best fit. That said, I always encourage people to pick up any book whose premise genuinely intrigues them.

*I received a copy of Trinity Trinity Trinity courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating or enjoyment.*

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