Who Is Mr Satoshi?

By Jonathan Lee

This newly published, hardback book represents an unusual choice for review as it is a novel, in fact a first novel by city lawyer, Jonathan Lee. In 2007 Jonathan was posted to the firm’s Tokyo office and during his time there he became increasingly interested in Japanese culture and history.  On his return to London he began writing – Who is Mr Satoshi?

Jonathan writes as a foreigner learning about Japanese culture and we, the reader learn through the eyes of the novel’s central character, Rob Fossick.  I do not want to give you too much detail about the story as this might spoil it for you if you decide to read this book for yourself.  The plot essentially is a quest by Rob Fossick, to find the elusive Mr Satoshi and to deliver a parcel from his recently deceased mother.  However, the character Rob Fossick, a photographer by trade is agoraphobic and reclusive, following the death of his wife Chloe, in Greece, when he retreats into a life of pills and seclusion.  He therefore has a lot of fears to conquer along the way.  Rob Fossicks journey, although to Japan really symbolises a journey into himself. 

Some colourful characters emerge along the way, some larger than life such as the Dolly Parton obsessed hotel owner and sumo wrestler.  We also meet Chiyoko, a young Japanese girl with a pink stripe in her hair who becomes a guide and mentor to Rob both physically and emotionally.

Who is Mr Satoshi? is therefore a mystery, at times funny, often quite moving with the author feeding us information through the chance finding of old letters which do reveal the identity of the elusive Mr Satoshi.  Even when his identity is discovered this still raises questions, knowing someone’s name does not mean we know who they really are.  It also raises the question of how well did Rob Fossick actually know his mother Alice, indeed how well did he know himself? 

Fellow author, Jennie Rooney says the book is compelling, funny and beautifully written – a rare treat, a book you do not want to put down. Author Giles Foden says that Jonathan Lee is a newcomer who will catch prize judges’ attention.  I agree with both those statements, in fact early into the novel I thought that we will be hearing more from Mr Lee.

I found Who is Mr Satoshi? to be an unusual novel, easy to read and insightful with a storyline quite different to anything I have read before.  I chose to review this novel as the main character suffers from agoraphobia and here lies my only criticism of the book.  I felt that more could have been made of this facet of the storyline, with more detail and feeling attached to the struggles which would have ensued for this character- Rob Fossick- in his journey to Tokyo in pursuit of photographs to satisfy his agent and Mr Satoshi. However this is a small criticism in that I felt it was a missed opportunity to portray the struggle which is agoraphobia.  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to Jonathan Lee’s second novel.

ISBN 978-0-434-02041-6

Available from all good book shops – cover price £12.00

and Amazon @£7.86