Mitchell, David. Number 9 dream.

MITCHELL, David. Number 9 dream. Random House. 400p. c2001. 0-8129-6692-9. $13.95. SA

Eiji Miyake is a young man with a mission-to find the rich, powerful father who deserted his family years ago, and now lives and works in Tokyo. It isn't that Eiji wants his father's money, but rather he wants to meet him, perhaps to renew bonds or at least to hear his father send him away. Eiji becomes obsessed with the search. He is also obsessed by a feeling of responsibility for the death of his twin sister. Anju, who died nine years ago in a swimming accident. Until these two matters are resolved, Eiji's life cannot move forward. In Tokyo, however, Eiji becomes unwittingly involved with the ruthless Japanese mafia that threatens his life; with Ai Imajo, a gifted young pianist who is trying to assert herself against her parents' traditional plan for her life; and with his grandfather, who entrusts to him the diary of a WW II kamikaze pilot, Eiji's own great uncle.

Interspersed throughout the story are dream sequences, which reflect Eiji's unconscious thoughts and fears, and mimic surreal scenes from popular video games. It is sometimes difficult, in fact. to assess where the reality begins and ends. Eiji, a guitarist, finds "music touching his soul," as it did for John Lennon, whose hit song, "#9 Dream," provides the book's title. An absorbing coming-of-age tale, this Booker Prize finalist will be appreciated by adult readers and some teens willing to invest time and effort in unraveling the rich complexities of the novel's language and imagery.