Keigo Higashino is a Japanese writer of "realism" who started with fresh and fluent campus reasoning in the early days and gradually broke through the framework of traditional reasoning in the later stages.
"Sleeping Forest" is a companion work of Japanese writer Keigo Higashino after "Graduation", and the early works belonging to Keigo Higashino are not as well written as the later works of "White Night" and "Malice". But traces of the author's initial impetuousness can be seen.
The novel "Sleeping Forest" mainly describes the murder of the ballet troupe, and the criminal police Kaga solves the story of the serial murder case in the troupe through continuous investigation, and the story is full of romantic and poignant love and human ugliness.
The writing style, distorted values, and poignant and warm love are three aspects to evaluate this novel
<h1>1. Writing style</h1>
General mystery novels such as Arthur. Conan. Doyle, primarily known as "scientific, professional"; either Edgar. Edgar Allan Poe is known as "horror, mystery" or as in the case of Agatha. Christie's "Wonderful Psychoanalysis and Ingenious Layout".
And the style of the novel "Sleeping Forest" is different from their characteristics, there is no wonderful, bizarre case solving plot, the whole case solving process, plain, as if to tell a very ordinary thing. After several cases occurred, according to the normal process, the scene was blocked, the crime tools were found, the relevant people were questioned, and the clues to solve the case were found.
The process of solving the case lies in the police Kaga understanding the motives of the murderer and how he committed the crime. At the scene of Kazema's murder, it was impossible to find that the victim was the basis for burglary, but instead investigated the identity background of the victim and the relationship between the relevant contacts, and understood the real reason for the occurrence of the case. When the clues of the case are unclear, with the performance of the ballet, Kajita Yasunari was killed, the case went to a critical period, but still could not find the murderer's motive and modus operandi, until Yasuko's suicide, the case progressed, the main Yasuko and Kajita Yasunari relationship, after investigating the relevant background of Kajita Yasunari and Yasuko, the case gradually surfaced.
The entire case is investigated for the relationship and emotional entanglement between the murderer and the victim, thus generating the motive for the crime and reasoning. Do not pay attention to the bizarre and twists of the plot of the case.
<h1>2. Distorted values</h1>
The serial murders of The Takayanagi Ballet are actually uncomplicated, they are caused by a series of emotional entanglements, but the members of the troupe have woven a series of lies to cover each other for the sake of "distorted values". In the process of detection, after the lies are exposed, the "distorted values" are presented to the reader.
In fact, this distorted value is the result of the "Pygmalion effect".
The Pygmalion effect is an expectation or prophecy that people form based on their perception of a situation that causes the situation to have an effect adapted to that expectation or prophecy.
Almost all the members of the Takayanagi Ballet Company regard ballet as a lifelong career, and there is no other pursuit, for the sake of performance, they can sacrifice everything, they can also cover up the criminal suspects, and they have always taken the teaching of Kajita Yasunari as the direction, never crossing the thunder pool half a step. This is a distorted concept formed by Kajita Yasunari's teaching. They believe that Kajita Yasunari's ballet career is the noblest, and gaining his recognition and trust is the greatest motivation to avoid disappointing him.
But there are also negative aspects to the implications, that is, they are easy to be manipulated and controlled.
Zweig said: "In life, all the gifts are secretly priced." The most typical is Yasuko, in order to become the protagonist of the ballet, she takes Kajita Yasunari's hobby as her standard, deliberately loses weight, to gain favor. And fell in love with Yasunari Kajita, but the appearance of Yashiko shattered her ideals, Kajita Yasunari even made Yasuko a "shield" for Yashiko, and Yasuko, who suffered betrayal, had her dreams shattered, so that her resentment had a murderous motive.
Kajita Yasunari's teaching was objectively a negative consequence of the Pygmalion effect, and it also led to distorted values among troupe members.
<h1>3. Poignant and warm love</h1>
In the process of revealing the case step by step, a poignant love story is revealed.
(1) The tragic love between Yashiko and Aoki: Yashiko and Aoki met in the United States in their early years, and the two originally fell in love freely, but they were interrupted by the obstruction of Yashiko's mother and Kajita, and in order not to affect Yashiko's ballet career, Yasuko was used as a "shield". This eventually leads to Aoki's suicide. A pure love affair was nipped in the bud.
(2) Yasuko's twisted love with Kajita Yasunari: Yasuko's love affair is actually a twisted love affair, she is influenced by Kajita Yasunari in her ideological values, put all the chips in her life on Kajita, and falls in love with Kajita Yasunari and is willing to give everything for her, however, when Kajita Yasunari leans toward Yashiko, Yasushi's life collapses. Finally revenge after suicide.
(3) Kaga's warm love affair with the unsound: Kaga's love belongs to the kind of love at first sight, and this feeling may be a substitute for the previous relationship before the source. Kaga was convinced when he saw the unfinished performance, the look of love he wanted, so he refused the blind date and refused the introduction of his colleagues. In the investigation of the case, the contact is not ready, and constantly give warm help. Although he finally personally arrested Wei Xu, he promised to wait for her to return.
The three romances are the warmest and most likely to bear fruit, just as the prince kisses the princess and wakes up the sleeping forest.
The novel "Sleeping Forest" is actually a process of exploring human nature, when the instincts of human nature are selfish, greedy, and evil are revealed, and everyone seems to be under a spell, crazy, criminal, and distorted values. As Mo Yan said, "Child, in this world, many magnificent things are done in the black light and blind fire." "Of course, people have rationality in addition to instinct, and we who live in the present can develop through excavation, kindness, kindness, and tolerance, so that the value of life is more meaningful."