Fear and Trembling

“Fear and Trembling” is Amélie Nothomb’s most famous novel. It was nominated for the Goncourt Prize, received an award from the French Academy (Grand Prix for Best Novel, 1999), and has been translated into dozens of languages. The book is based on a real fact from the author’s life: barely after graduating university, Nothomb worked for a year at a major Tokyo company. Amélie was born in Japan, and now she is returning there as to a long-awaited home—so she can stay forever. But every attempt to follow Japanese traditions and customs only leads to trouble and ends in cruel lessons. Nothomb makes the reader laugh, frightens, and surprises—and in the end turns the myth about Japan inside out by building the plot around a psychological duel between two young, beautiful women.