When the late Fumio Yamamoto's The Dilemmas of Working Women won the coveted Naoki Prize in 2001 in Japan, its bestselling success was "a phenomenon," writes Brian Bergstrom, who meticulously translates this audacious five-story collection populated by women bluntly eschewing expectations. The narrators here--four women, one man--each face complex decisions on the cusp of major change.
Tradition proves potentially stifling in the titular story when Mito's longtime boyfriend announces on her 25th birthday, " 'Well, I guess it's about time. We can get married.'... he said it as if granting permission." Mito once thought wifehood should happen by 25, but the possibility of actual nuptials only engenders reasons to refuse. In "Here, Which Is Nowhere"--the collection's most nuanced story--Maho is trapped in an endless cycle of caring for and serving others: her husband of 21 years, her disgruntled widowed mother, her dismissive almost-adult children. Maho's rage builds in increments, but finding some semblance of release does little to improve her daily life.
The ending "A Tomorrow Full of Love"--the quintet's sweetest, with the single male narrator--moves between an izakaya owner's unpredictable interactions with his free-spirited live-in lover and his utter devotion to the tween daughter he's allowed to see every three months.
That Yamamoto writes solely in first-person cleverly encourages immediate engagement, creating an instant gateway into the intimacies of these characters' lives. Throughout her fictional universe, marriage is the biggest loser, particularly for women, something to avoid or escape. In upsetting and challenging the venerable institution, many of Yamamoto's empathic characters--even a quarter-century after their debut--remain timeless figures of strength and resilience. --Terry Hong