Kobayashi, Tamai

Average customer rating:

Mosaic of connections between family & friends

Exile and the Heart
Tamai Kobayashi
Manufacturer: Women's Press (CA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Set in North America and Japan, Exile and the Heart weaves beautiful stories of women of the diaspora negotiating love, identity, and friendship against a moving landscape of memory, history and home. Gen Tanaka and Kathy Nakashima slowly piece together the fragments of their lives, naming their exiles, tracking their journeys, making the connections of who they are, and what that means. In a world of racism and homophobia, Kobayashi's characters carve a cautious home of tenderness and resilience. Exile and the Heart is a passionate and musical tale sparkling with clarity and freshness.

Customer Reviews:

Mosaic of connections between family & friends.......1999-05-07

A beautifully written series of interlocked stories about a small group of women, all either friends, family, or exlovers. Kobayashi evokes in a sort of poetic fire clearly the sometimes joyful, sometimes painful ties people have with each other. Even though the characters are women and most are lesbians, the overall story can clearly portray parallels in any family unit, whether chosen or hereditary. Resonates along with Sarah Schulman's "Rat Bohemia" or Alison Bechdel's series "Dykes to Watch out for".

Average customer rating:

Journey into imagination

Quixotic Erotic
Tamai Kobayashi
Manufacturer: Arsenal Pulp Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Step into a world of dream, of fantasy, of erotic tales spiked with poetic imagery. Step into Quixotic Erotic, the new collection of literary erotica from Tamai Kobayashi.

Like being awakened from a dream by a soft, sensuous caress, the stories in Quixotic Erotic stimulate the senses. From a birthday surprise to a torrid office dalliance, these tales roam the worlds of women loving women.

A woman's doctor prescribes a weekend with a sex surrogate, leading to exploration and discovery. A couple breaks a trail through the snow to a hidden hotsprings, and the passion it brings. Two women discover the pleasures that toys can stimulate.

But the women in these fictions are not simply sexual beings. They are fully-developed characters who can be confused and conflicted, angry and frustrated, happy and excited. They become real people in a real world, a place where sex is part of life and of living. A place where lovemaking is an expression of self.

The fantasies collected in Quixotic Erotic are literature in the purest sense.

Tamai Kobayashi was born in Japan and raised in Canada. She is the author of All Names Spoken (co-authored with Mona Oikawa) and Exile and the Heart, and was cowriter of the short film Short Hymn_Silent War 03 that screened as part of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Customer Reviews:

Journey into imagination.......2003-12-31

This eagerly awaited follow-up to "Exile and the Heart" is a collection of short stories exploring lesbian desire, sex, and love. The first half is populated with sensual erotica, ranging from love stories to kink. In the second half, Kobayashi adds elements of fantasy to her tales, merging the mythic with the erotic. "Quixotic Erotic" is a glorious example of reader seduction. Kobayashi is a marvelous storyteller and this collection just whets whatever appetites the readers bring. I hope it won't be so long before she gives us more.

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