{"product_id":"the-paradise-bird-tattoo-or-attempted-double-suicide-9781582437040","title":"The Paradise Bird Tattoo (or, Attempted Double-Suicide)","description":"Ikushima lives as a drone, slaving away for an advertising company that neither values him nor cares about his existence. He flees the city to become a vagabond, catching local trains to anywhere, eventually finding a miserable job skewering refuse animal organs for a local restaurant in Amagasaki, a town riddled with gangs and miscreants. He settles into a routine in the city, and through his brief and accidental encounters with his deeply troubled neighbors--the evil-worshipping tattoo artist, his former-prostitute-cum-Madame employer, an unclaimed child, and the fleetingly striking Ayako--he bridges the gaps in his social world and inadvertently begins to live. With this newfound, yet unacknowledged, passion for life, Ikushima embarks on a love affair with Ayako, which leads to dangerous consequences and threatens to tear through the barriers he has partitioned around his existence for so long. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt once quietly reflective and bitterly gritty, \u003ci\u003eThe Paradise Bird Tattoo (or, Attempted Double-Suicide)\u003c\/i\u003e explores a new generation of worker bees who possess a candid fear of living with an inexplicable sense that they must go on for the sake of going on. Choukitsu Kurumatani artfully illustrates a world where not even love can provide salvation for those who are weary of life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Catapult\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781582437040\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.10h x 5.50w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2011 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2011\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Choukitsu Kurumatani","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45096985985205,"sku":"9781582437040","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_2e26fb7d-6c5b-4807-9938-27647da527a7.jpg?v=1739282965","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-paradise-bird-tattoo-or-attempted-double-suicide-9781582437040","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}