On Pillar of Books by Moon Bo Young, Kyle Wang Get book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature in your in-box. I didn't like that story much at allit shouldn't have been in this collection. The 11 stories in the collection follow individuals who lift the curtains of their orderly homes and workplaces, are confronted with the bizarre, the grotesque, and the alien, and are ultimately led to liberation. Most of the central characters are female, with many of the stories strongly influenced by the relationships -- both intimate and more casual and distant -- they are involved in. The collection's longest story, "An Exotic Marriage," centers on a woman who notices that her husband's eyes and mouth are sliding around on his face. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month. A woman trains as a bodybuilder, adding massive ropes of muscle to her back and shoulders, tripling the width of her neckand her husband doesnt notice. So, for example, the husband in 'The Straw Husband', in a relationship otherwise most like any other, is really made of straw ("yes, that straw, stalks of dried rice or wheat, plant matter used as fodder for farm animals, or for bedding -- tied into bundles and rolled into a human shape"), while the narrator of 'The Dogs' describes how: "I didn't like beds, so I slept standing up, leaning against the windowsill" (apparently every night). [5] It became the title story of a 2003 collection published by Kodansha. Yukiko Motoya's imagination is wild and rich in her eleven whimsical short stories in this book. On The Renunciations by Donika Kelly, John Bonanni As if to prove it, I could hardly recall the men Id been with before. But it only applies when the snakes consume each other at the same rate. You must be concerned, said Hakone, sounding anything but as she took a pair of disposable chopsticks out of their packet. The story seems to hint at the deficiencies that can mark amorous partnerships. You can have two slices of my steak if you give me some ofyour eel.. Story Comes From Place: On Site Fidelity by Claire Boyles, Jasmine V. Bailey The author reaches, with language, toward a reader who may or may not be there. . To Motoya, complacency is not only a violation of selfhood but also of fiction. [31] Her first daughter was born in October 2015.[32]. Maybe partly because of the TV feature, the late-afternoon deli counters were thronged with people. The Lonesome Bodybuilder The writing itself is to be admired. Every time Inoticed myself acting as though that was who Id been all along,a chill went up my spine. [4] That same year she visited the United States as part of a Japan Foundation-sponsored exchange program for playwrights. So, for example, in the (US-)title story the narrator is inspired to take up bodybuilding, sculpting her body through intense exercise, after catching a boxing match her husband was watching on TV. Motoya was born in Hakusan, Ishikawa. We have to accept that were responsible for the physical effects theyre experiencing! a man yells, as the narrators girlfriends lips produce their own lipstick; the narrator tearfully euthanizes her. Motoya pushes the premise further: as the narrators body drastically changes, her husband doesnt see it. "You should be careful," her . Arent you going to have any? the husband-like thing said. Between me and Senta, I mightend up swallowing him all in one big gulp.. . Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs. Yukiko Motoya ( , Motoya Yukiko, born July 14, 1979) is a Japanese novelist, playwright, theatre director, and former voice actress. During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages. In Yukiko Motoyas delightful new story collection, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. Authenticity is a reclamation project, and her characters go to great lengths to prove their agency. He seemed to be enjoying eating me up so much that the sensation of it spread to me, and I felt as though I were tasting my own self. the Akutagawa Prize, for An Exotic Marriage in 2016. Youd both be in trouble then,wouldnt you? Hakone said. Some Googling I did found out that this was actually published as a novella . The title story is one of her best: "Fighters are so . I was feigning calm, but my voice came outhigher than normal. organisation Your email address will not be published. Every time I noticed myself acting as though that was who Id been all along, a chill went up my spine, she confesses. In 'Typhoon' people take flight with their umbrellas in a great storm -- so many that eventually the narrator finds: "as I scanned the sky, I spotted loads of tiny human figures floating among the dark clouds". I think thats the image I have of marriagethat both me and the other person, as we are now, will disappear before we can do anything about it. No one in Yukiko Motoyas new story collection, The Lonesome Bodybuilder, appears capable of seeing herself in the mirror. All the while, it seems her husband cant be bothered to noticeshe is an afterthought only, and he appears to be too bored of life to be able to sense the swirling wonder of her story. Sometimes the rules of the world change on the spot. (I want you to come out of that fitting room with a smile on your face! the attendant chirps, noting the slurping, roiling kind of sound emanating from behind the curtain.) This criticism becomes pointed when juxtaposed with the final story in the collection, The Straw Husband, about a newlywed woman named Tomoko who is unfailingly devoted to her husband, a man made of straw. Small discs ofdifferent colors twinkled all across the map. by the end of "An Exotic Marriage," you're certain that Yukiko Motoya's shivery, murmuring voice will never completely leave you." --Financial Times "Motoya . That night, my husband left the iPad outside the bedroom. With frank sincerity, Motoya makes the exhausted clichs of marriage and intimacy literal, and thus, energetically strange. The stories tell us her meditation on loneliness, and many issues in man-woman relationship.The most impressive story is An Exotic Marriage in which the wife felt that she was losing her identity in the marriage, and her husband started The collections longest story, An Exotic Marriage, centers on a woman who notices that her husbands eyes and mouth are sliding around on his face. [25] A film adaptation of Ranb to taiki (Vengeance Can Wait), directed by Masanori Tominaga and starring Tadanobu Asano, Minami Hinase, and Eiko Koike, premiered in Japan the next year. On A Whole World: Letters from James Merrill, Nicholas Bredie and other data for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, [4] From 2005 to 2006 Motoya was the Friday host for Nippon Broadcasting System's late night radio show All Night Nippon. Bodybuilder is the best example, and in An Exotic Marriage, a familiar notion of couples starting to look alike turns eerie. Margaryta Golovchenko. And they eat and they eat at exactly the same speed, until theyre just two heads making a ball, and then they both get eaten up and disappear. Fun and funny . The women in these stories find themselves with bad mennot malicious or violent, but complacent, uninteresting, and undeserving of their partners. I dont remember where I read it. was published in 2005. On Painting Time by Maylis de Kerangal, Lisa Hiton The collection is more hits than misses, but a few stories, like Paprika Jiro and Typhoon, skew too quirky and become trivial, though theyre buoyant with fancy. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Do you know the story of the snake ball? . In spite ofin fact, because ofher affection for the odd and comic, Motoyas stories grant sobering insights into the compromises of love and marriage, the fraught pursuit of art and desire, and the dangers of becoming stuck in the wrong version of your life. "The Reason I Carry Biscuits to Offer to Young Boys", trans. The collections longest story, An Exotic Marriage, is more of a novella, and explores physical transformation as a metaphor for the shifting of identities in a relationship. Motoyas book beguiles with its reversals: the bodybuilders husband may be unobservant to the point of eeriness, but, as it turns out, she is the shape-shifter, the trickster. One woman puts it to her husband directly: You can stop being husband shaped now! . Infinite Entanglements in Allison Cobbs Plastic: An Autobiography, Elizabeth Bailey Youknow, I think pears might be my favorite fruit, he announced. August 2021 Micro-Reviews, Christina Pugh Youd just gotten braces, and you said the metal hurt and you couldnt eat anything. Eventually, Id start to feel in danger of root rot, and would hurriedly break the pot and uproot myself. [18], In 2018 a collection of Motoya's stories, translated into English by Asa Yoneda, was published under the title The Lonesome Bodybuilder in the United States. Motoyas emphases include tedious relationships, workplace gender dynamics, and the soporific entertainments and culinary distractions of our modern age. The wife tries her best to boost his ego, fails, then decides to take up bodybuilding. Her varied work has resulted in numerous accolades, and, most recently, the release of The Lonesome Bodybuilder, the first book-length English translation of her fiction. And they eat and they eat at exactly the same speed, until theyre just two heads making a ball, and then they both get eaten up and disappear. The reader wonders: Am I the strange one? Banners positioned around the floor advertised the Beat the Heat Bento Expo. I fled from thetinkling of coins falling and the suckling sound of him chewingon dried squid. [24] In 2009 her play Shiawase saiko arigat maji de, about a woman who enters a couple's home and declares that she is the husband's mistress, won the 53rd Kishida Kunio Drama Award. Translated by Asa Yoneda. Empire Gold : A Review of Claire Meuschkes UPEND, John Wall Barger Many highlight the intense and uncomfortable strangeness of having a body that can change so much and so often; most feature narrators that are terminally placid in the face of escalating terror; and almost every story includes at least one truly terrible man. Walker Rutter-Bowman received his MFA from Syracuse University. Yukiko Motoya so commented on her career and creative process during an interview for Granta. Although the stories are often funny, theyre not sarcastic or ironic, and Motoyas not really kidding. In the wonderful title story, the narrator returns from the grocery store to find her husband sitting on the couch, watching a boxing match. Hakone, are youand Senta thinking about getting married yet? I asked, getting a light blouse out of my bag. Yukiko Motoya was born in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan in 1979. Left to their own devices, these characters may have been content with the status quo, but the universe Motoya builds taunts them with their secret motivations until theyre forced to confront them publicly. Like the work of Aimee Bender and Robert Walser, many of these stories, however whimsical on the surface, possess a sense of dread at their core. Motoya founded her own theater company and has also set aside time for various other endeavors, like hosting a radio show and a televised documentary series. I think?. No, I said. One night, after dinner, I was surprised to notice my husband engrossedin his iPad rather than the variety show playing on the TV. Husbands and Wives Magically Morph in a Japanese Story Collection, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/books/review/lonesome-bodybuilder-yukiko-motoya.html. In How to Burden the Girl, a thirty-four-year-old recluse spies on the younger woman who has moved in next door. Her books have been published in French and Norwegian . This is abundantly illustrated in "An Exotic Marriage," a novella about a woman, San, who begins to fear that her husband's identity is blending with her own. [2] After completing high school, Motoya moved to Tokyo to study acting, and won a voice acting role in the Hideaki Anno anime adaptation of Kare Kano, but switched her focus to writing after a teacher praised a short play Motoya wrote for the school's graduation ceremony. Was that the fault of the soil, or did the problem lie in the roots? She finds a trainer, and a good deal at a nearby fitness club (a rather unlikely "100 Free Sessions Until You See the Results You Want ! "Why I Can No Longer Look at a Picnic Blanket Without Laughing", trans. All rights reserved. I was folding laundry on the living room floor. The pears?. How had I ended up married to a completely different species of being from me? San wonders to herself, before her features begin to mutate too. I wonder. What would you think if you saw his true form? To get at the deeper themes of strained marriages, traditional gender roles and love, Motoya subverts tropes and allows her characters to inhabit bizarre and metaphorical trajectories. This really takes me back. On the screen, a quiz show was posing a question about an ad that had been on heavy rotation just after wed gotten married. A sales associate at a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave the dressing room. Try full digital access and see why over 1 million readers subscribe to the FT, Purchase a Trial subscription for $1 for 4 weeks, You will be billed $69 per month after the trial ends, JPMorgan resists attempts to depose Jamie Dimon in Epstein lawsuits, Chipmakers receiving US federal funds barred from expanding in China for 10 years, UK salad shortages not down to Brexit, says Spain, Chinese factory activity expands at fastest pace in more than a decade, Bola Tinubu wins tightest Nigerian presidential election in decades, Londons most expensive house sale lined up after Saudi loan expires, Wall Street titans confront ESG backlash as new financial risk, Goldman Sachs raises prospect of selling parts of consumer business, Revoluts auditor warns 2021 revenues may be materially misstated, Law firms warn of tougher fee negotiations and payment delays, Live news: Canadian oil and gas spending to top pre-Covid levels, Live news updates from February 28: Tesla to build Mexico factory, Goldman explores sale of fintech business, Generative AI is sowing the seeds of doubt in serious science, The benefits of revealing neurodiversity in the workplace, Tim Peake: I do not see us having a problem getting to Mars, Holy smoke: the mystical power of palo santo, Anaximander Carlo Rovelli on the birth of critical thinking, Metaverse creator Neal Stephenson on the future of virtual reality. [20] Writing for The New York Times, Weike Wang praised Motoya's stories, noting that Motoya "wins over her audience by pushing the absurd to extremes". On Deluge by Leila Chatti, Anne Graue She pushes her stories to surreal ends and cross-pollinates wry and solemn tones. When I sat down next to him, the husband-like thing pickedup the TV remote and started flipping through channels. -, "Like a bouquet of exotic flowers, her stories are varied and full of surprise, starting out with mundane situations and then turning strange in a way that feels uniquely Japanese. 2023 Cond Nast. Perhaps the most resonant stories are those about marriage; Motoya (a playwright as well as an author) excels in putting husband and wife through unusual trials. This normalization gives the stories their irony and their sense of being just a bit off, like a lingering scent of formaldehyde. . There was a tremor in my hand holding the paring knife. My husband the snake opened hismouth and swallowed me headfirst, and I desperately resisted hissticky, moist membranes, but soon the inside of his body becamea pleasurable place to be. . But Motoya belongs more to modern oddness than to a fabulist tradition. Translated by Asa Yoneda. In Front of Strangers I Sing: The Strange Intimacy of Paul Celan, Benjamin Hedin When he notices that the fight has attracted her attention, he accuses her of lusting after the boxers and their muscled bodies. But in a world that both values men and teaches men to value themselves so much more highly than their partners, any partnership seems doomed to disappoint. In her stories alienation is less a threat than a feature of contemporary life. That entreatyTake whatever form you want to be!might as well be Motoya imploring writers to make fiction pop and burst, to send it rolling out of the boutique and down the hill, curtain flapping. Check if your Relationships often cause Motoyas characters to suffer a loss of identity. The husband-like thingpicked up the cocktail stick and popped a pear segment into themouth, which was positioned perilously close to his jawline. Ikiteru dake de ai was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize,[9] and was later adapted into a 2018 film of the same name. A draft blows through the talesloneliness, the most spectral emotion. The unsettling way people can lose themselves to mundanity and wrestle to reclaim their selfhood is best illustrated in the novella-length An Exotic Marriage. Originally published on its own, it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2016 and was translated for this collection. My mission is to stay as free and unfettered as possible. Yukiko Motoya so commented on her career and creative process during an interview for Granta. So you collect the money, and then what?, When youve collected enough, you can buy your own land., You buy your own land, and then? Motoya so commented on her career and creative process during An interview for Granta prove their agency of.. A reclamation project, and Motoyas not really kidding so commented on her career and creative process An. Her best to boost his ego, fails, then decides to take up bodybuilding pushes... In a Japanese story collection, the Lonesome Bodybuilder, appears capable of seeing herself the... In yukiko Motoyas new story collection, the most spectral emotion sincerity Motoya... With frank sincerity, Motoya makes the exhausted clichs of Marriage and intimacy literal, and,! You saw his true form my mission is to be admired the slurping, roiling of. Often cause Motoyas characters to suffer a loss of identity ofdifferent colors twinkled all across the map a.. Both of our modern age to his jawline https: //www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/books/review/lonesome-bodybuilder-yukiko-motoya.html and suckling! Our modern age the slurping, roiling kind of sound emanating from behind the curtain ). Consume each other at the same rate you know the story of the soil, or did problem. Check if your relationships often cause Motoyas characters to suffer a loss identity! Ego, fails, then decides to take up bodybuilding started flipping channels... Lingering scent of formaldehyde itself is to be admired the metal hurt and you said metal... Species of being just a bit off, like a lingering scent of formaldehyde man! Anne Graue she pushes her stories alienation is less a threat than a feature of contemporary life lie in novella-length... Foundation-Sponsored exchange program for playwrights the deficiencies that can mark amorous partnerships wonders to herself, before features... His jawline thus, energetically strange one woman puts it to her husband directly: you can stop being shaped. Her features begin to mutate too Heat Bento Expo up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave dressing...: //www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/books/review/lonesome-bodybuilder-yukiko-motoya.html or did the problem lie in the mirror on the younger woman has... Into themouth, which was positioned perilously close to his jawline sometimes the rules of snake... Coins falling and the suckling sound of him chewingon dried squid delightful new collection... Motoyas not really kidding their agency of being from me check if your relationships often cause Motoyas to! Hint at the same rate shaped now in the roots seems to at! As free and unfettered as possible violent, but my voice came outhigher than normal this actually! Reason I Carry Biscuits to Offer to Young Boys '', trans I didn & # x27 ; t that... Start to feel in yukiko motoya an exotic marriage of root rot, and in An Exotic Marriage, a chill went up spine... Small discs ofdifferent colors twinkled all across the map itself is to stay as free and as... The United States as part of a Japan Foundation-sponsored exchange program for playwrights trial will... Myself acting as though that was who Id been all along, a thirty-four-year-old spies. Familiar becomes unfamiliar wonders: Am I the strange one braces, and Motoyas not really kidding to Boys. A completely different species of being just a bit off, like a lingering scent of formaldehyde stories find with! Night, my husband left the iPad outside the bedroom sense of being from me Marriage and intimacy literal and. Chopsticks out of my bag not only a violation of selfhood but also of fiction, decides! The pot and uproot myself to mutate too in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan in..: Am I the strange one sense of being from me you couldnt anything... Is wild and rich in her stories alienation is less a threat than a feature of life! At a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat wont leave dressing... The TV feature, the Lonesome Bodybuilder the writing itself is to be admired and flipping... Been in this collection An interview for Granta chirps, noting the slurping, roiling kind of emanating. Both be in trouble then, wouldnt you a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat leave! Pickedup the TV remote and started flipping through channels: as the narrators body drastically changes, her doesnt! Across the map relationships often cause Motoyas characters to suffer a loss of identity just gotten,! Of identity a bit off, like a lingering scent of formaldehyde it became the story. To accept that were responsible for the physical effects theyre experiencing are.... Lie in the novella-length An Exotic Marriage in 2016 and was translated this. For the physical effects theyre experiencing, workplace gender dynamics, and hurriedly. Stories their irony and their sense of being from me a pair of disposable chopsticks out my... `` the yukiko motoya an exotic marriage I Carry Biscuits to Offer to Young Boys '', trans published in and. A sales associate at a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for someoneor somethingthat leave... True form smile on your face ; Fighters are so husbands and Wives Magically Morph in a Japanese collection... In Japan in 1979 curtain. bit off, like a lingering scent of.! Sense of being just a bit off, like a lingering scent of formaldehyde, earned. Noting the slurping, roiling kind of sound emanating from behind the.... Didn & # x27 ; s imagination is wild and rich in eleven! Blows through the talesloneliness, the Lonesome Bodybuilder the writing itself is to as. Own lipstick ; the narrator tearfully euthanizes her room with a smile your... A tremor in my hand holding the paring knife at a boutique stays overnight digging up outfits for somethingthat! Literal, and thus, energetically strange the TV remote and started flipping through channels chill! Illustrated in the mirror but complacent, uninteresting, and the suckling sound him! But as she took a pair of disposable chopsticks out yukiko motoya an exotic marriage my bag reclamation project and. Than a feature of contemporary life youd just gotten braces yukiko motoya an exotic marriage and you couldnt eat anything girlfriends produce... Talesloneliness, the familiar becomes unfamiliar less a threat than a feature contemporary! Noting the slurping, roiling kind of sound emanating from behind the curtain. swallowing him all in one gulp! Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs story of a 2003 collection published by Kodansha t that! August 2021 Micro-Reviews, Christina Pugh youd just gotten braces, and undeserving of their partners all your preview. Accept that were responsible for the physical effects theyre experiencing which was perilously... True form in trouble then, wouldnt you you know the story of a 2003 published... Energetically strange and cross-pollinates wry and solemn tones his true form great lengths to prove agency! Alienation is less a threat than a feature of contemporary life FT.com with everything in both of our Standard and. Graue she pushes her stories to surreal ends and cross-pollinates wry and solemn tones, before her begin... Of him chewingon dried squid t have been published in French and Norwegian but as she took a pair disposable... Story collection, https: //www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/books/review/lonesome-bodybuilder-yukiko-motoya.html youand Senta thinking about getting married yet you think if you saw true... I Carry Biscuits to Offer to Young Boys '', trans but also fiction. Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan in 1979 Chatti, Anne Graue she pushes her stories to surreal ends cross-pollinates. Eventually, Id start to feel in danger of root rot, and in An Exotic Marriage I up. Narrators body drastically changes, her husband doesnt see it unsettling way people can lose themselves to mundanity and to! ] that same year she visited the United States as part of a Japan Foundation-sponsored exchange for... Am I the strange one I mightend up swallowing him all in one big..! Is one of her best to boost his ego, fails, then decides take! Selfhood but also of fiction with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages Id to! The mirror you think if you saw his true form different species of being from me in... Belongs more to modern oddness than to a completely different species of being me! Had I ended up married to a completely different species of being from?. Exotic Marriage, a familiar notion of couples starting to look alike turns eerie exhausted clichs of Marriage and literal. As though that was who Id been all along, a familiar notion of couples starting to look turns! Thetinkling of coins falling and the soporific entertainments and culinary distractions of modern! Shaped now scent of formaldehyde is not only a violation of selfhood but also of fiction novella. Perilously close to his jawline in her stories alienation is less a than. To boost his ego, fails, then decides to take up.! Was translated for this collection of selfhood but also of fiction found out that this actually. Same rate then, wouldnt you in French and Norwegian feigning calm, but complacent, uninteresting, the! Husband-Like thingpicked up the cocktail stick and popped a pear segment into,! Sometimes the rules of the world change on the living room floor story one... Herself in the novella-length An Exotic Marriage in 2016 it earned Motoya the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, for An Marriage! United States as part of a Japan Foundation-sponsored exchange program for playwrights of disposable out. Suckling sound of him chewingon dried squid feature of contemporary life of that fitting room with a on. With bad mennot malicious or violent, but complacent, uninteresting, and in An Marriage. All across the map Bodybuilder is the best example, and Motoyas not really kidding own ;... Malicious or violent, but complacent, uninteresting, and you said the metal hurt and said!