Touring the Land of the Dead (and Ninety-Nine Kisses) - by Maki Kashimada (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"Natsuko lives with her husband Taichi, who was forced to stop working eight years ago by the sudden onset of a brain disease. Ever since then, they have been living on her part-time wages and what he receives in disability. But Natsuko is well accustomed to financial hardship. Before meeting Taichi, she lived with her mother, a proud woman who clung to illusions of affluence long after the family riches had dried up. Her mother and her brother are haunted by their former station in life, restless spirits unable to live according to their present realities, and uncomprehending of Natsuko's decision to marry a lowly functionary. One day, Natsuko sees an ad for a rest-and-recreation center posted on a bulletin board: February Only: Weeknights 5,000 Yen (5000 Yen = Approx. 50USD). She recognizes the place as a former luxury hotel--a symbol of that time in her mother's youth when she wanted for nothing. Natsuko's grandfather, who single-handedly built the family fortune, had taken her mother to the storied hotel when she was little. When, for the first time in years, Natsuko and her husband take an overnight trip to a spa that was once a luxury hotel Natusko remembers staying in when she and her family had wealth and prestige. However, the building triggers memories and epiphanies relating to the complicated history of her family. Natsuko's overnight trip becomes a voyage into the netherworld--a journey to the doors of death and back to life. The volume also contains a short story modeled on Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters titled Ninety-Nine Kisses, which portrays four unmarried sisters living in an old-fashioned neighborhood in contemporary Tokyo."--Provided by publisher.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><strong>From one of Japan's rising literary stars, two mesmerizing novellas told with stylistic inventiveness and breathtaking sensitivity about memory, loss, and love.</strong></p> <p><em>Touring the Land of the Dead</em> tells the story of Taichi, who was forced to stop working almost a decade ago and since then he and his wife Natsuko have been getting by on her part-time wages. But Natsuko is a woman accustomed to hardship. When her own family's fortune dried up for years during her childhood, she, her brother, and her mother lived a surreal hand-to-mouth existence shaped by her mother's refusal to accept their new station in life. </p> <p>One day, Natsuko sees an ad for a spa and recognizes the place as the former luxury hotel that Natsuko's grandfather had taken her mother to when she was little. She decides to take her damaged husband to the spa, despite the cost, but their time there triggers hard but ultimately redemptive memories relating to the complicated history of her family and a reconciliation with her husband. </p> <p>Modeled on<em> The Makioka Sisters</em>, Junichiro Tanizaki's classic story, <em>Ninety-Nine Kisses</em> portrays in touching and lyrical fashion the lives of the four unmarried sisters in a historical, close-knit neighborhood of contemporary Tokyo. An atmospheric and captivating tail of siblings and women's lives.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>"Magical."--<strong><em>The Guardian, </em> Most Anticipated Fiction of 2021</strong></p> <p>"A delicate, layered exploration of family, trauma, and memory [ . . . ] An intriguing introduction to a significant voice in contemporary Japanese fiction."--<strong><em>Kirkus Reviews</em></strong></p> <p>"Maki Kashimada writes about one woman's trauma with razor-perfect concision and an austere beauty [ . . . ] Haydn Trowell's unobtrusive translation leaves room for Kashimada's prose as she reflects on family, memory, and identity."--<strong><em>Asian Review of Books</em></strong></p> <p>"Kashimada's allusive, outward-facing work insists on placing her fiction squarely within the context of world literature and thought."--<strong><em>Literary Hub</em></strong></p> <p>"An ethereal novel combining two tales exploring memory, love, and loss."--<strong><em>Vogue</em> (UK)</strong></p> <p>"Only Ms. Kashimada can create this kind of world."--<strong>Yoko Ogawa, author of <em>The Memory Police</em></strong></p> <p>"Thought-provoking and lingering."--<strong><em>Osusume Books</em></strong></p> <p>"A compelling voice and vision. <em>Touring the land of the Dead & Ninety-Nine Kisses</em> is a very lively and quite charming family-tale."--<strong><em>The Complete Review</em></strong></p> <p>"An unusual love story that simply works [ . . . ] let's hope we see more of Kashimada's work in English very soon."--<em><strong>Tony's Reading List</strong></em></p> <p>"I loved [how] Touring the Land of the Dead was so character driven and how the past, emotions, and trauma played such a significant role throughout."--<em><strong>Where There's Ink There's Paper</strong></em></p> <p>"Kashimada's writing is exceptional; this collection is dark and suffocating. It is part of a trend in Japan of female authors rewriting traditional and well-loved stories through a feminist lens, and is a welcome addition to the works by Japanese women being translated into English."--<strong><em>The Spectator</em></strong></p> <p>"While Kashimada's stories, like Murakami's, resist easy interpretation, the former revel in the beauty of experience, whether sorrowful or joyous, affirming life in all its strangeness, horror and mystery."--<strong><em>The Times Literary Supplement</em></strong> (UK)</p> <p>"Two polished novellas, though different in mood, probe family relationships with insight and elegance."--<strong><em>Tatler</em></strong> (UK)</p><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><p><b>Maki Kashimada</b>'s first novel Two won the 1998 Bungei Prize. Since then, she has established herself as a writer of literary fiction and become known for her avant-garde style. In 2005 she received the Mishima Yukio Prize for <i>Love at 6,000 Degrees Celsius</i>, a novel set in Nagasaki and based on <i>Hiroshima mon amour</i> by Marguerite Duras, and in 2007 she took the Noma Prize for New Writers for <i>Picardy Third</i>. She was nominated three times for the Akutagawa Prize before ultimately garnering the award in 2012 with <i>Touring the Land of the Dead</i>. One of her best-known works is <i>The Kingdom of Zero</i> (2009), which reworks Dostoevsky's <i>The Idiot</i> into the tale of a saintly idiot in Japan. She has been a follower of the Japanese Orthodox Church since high school and was married to a member of its clergy.</p>
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