A perfect day to be alone / Nanae Aoyama ; translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aoyama, Nanae, 1983- author.

Contributor:

Kirkwood, Jesse, translator.

Standardized Title:

Hitori-biyori. English.

Language:

English

Japanese

Subjects (All):

Tokyo (Japan)--Fiction.

Tokyo (Japan).

Roommates--Fiction.

Roommates.

Young women--Fiction.

Young women.

Older women--Fiction.

Older women.

Extended families--Fiction.

Extended families.

Intergenerational relations--Fiction.

Intergenerational relations.

Loneliness--Fiction.

Loneliness.

Genre:

Bildungsromans.

Domestic fiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

150 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Maclehose Press, 2024.

Language Note:

Translated from the Japanese.

Summary:

It was raining when I arrived at the house. The walls of my room were lined with cat photos, set in fancy frames just below the ceiling. When her mother emigrates to China for work, 21-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains. Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu's flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude. A Perfect Day to be Alone is a moving, microscopic examination of loneliness and heartbreak. With flashes of deadpan humour and a keen eye for poignant detail, Aoyama chronicles the painful process of breaking free from the moorings of youth.

Notes:

Originally published in Japanese as "Hitori-biyori" by Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 2007.

ISBN:

1529427681

9781529427684

OCLC:

1381068640

Publisher Number:

99996871011