Forget all those women ending up doing nothing with their lives by purpose that we encounter so often in the English-speaking literature. The Year - only one! - of rest and relaxation. The women giving up their career, mothering, shopping and the fancy man without a plan in sight. Japanese women did it in books many years before - Sayaka Murata is one of the many examples that come to my mind right now. They are freely having tantrums in convenience stores, avoid men, are spending the life in their home without doing anything at all. And this is perfectly anti-system fine.
I had those thoughts while reading the brilliantly disturbing short stories finally published in English by Fumio Yamamoto, translated by Brian Bergstrom (whose end note helps the reader more than in one respects). First and foremost, have a look at the cover! I can look at it for hours and always finding new ways to create stories based on the character. It relates perfectly the feeling builds up inside of you while reading the five short stories from the collection.
Each of the women exist within their own realm. Men and in general the masculine breed - either partners, fathers, children - is there to create trouble, discomfort, to unsettle. Although they gravitate within the traditional social and economic system, they tend to operate following their own anti-capitalist gravitation rules: no jobs, loafing around, ´unfit for society´.
They may also try to cool down their volcanic anger when returning back home from family assignments, before the night shift to make ends meet and watch their husband cooling down on the sofa with a beer in the front of the TV.
Women are always the main characters, also when they may not be the direct storyteller. It is less about ´voice´ than about ´presence´, although absent from the existence as such.
It´s a literary delightful and subversive read as it may make you think: why not turning the alternative into mainstream?
Rating: 4 stars
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