The Japanese character for 'Amlie' is the same as that for 'rain,' and in her brilliant and tender autobiographical novel Amlie Nothomb shows how right that is. After she emerges from a prolonged veget-a-tive state, the main character, a two-year-old child,dives into the world with abandon. That world hap-pens to be Japan, a place where children under three are con-sidered gods. The Character of Rain is a portrait of the artist as an infant, as well as a haunting depiction of infancy itself-its terrors, joys, and, most of all, its immer-sions. From the author of the acclaimed bestseller Fear and Trembling, this is a novel about beginnings.