6 votes

[SOLVED] Looking for book title by Japanese author

About a year or two ago, someone recommended a phenomenal dystopian novel about people who don’t have kids and are sent to live in a luxury facility where they serve a particular function for their remaining lives. It was by a Japanese author, I believe a woman. Does anyone know the name of the book and/or the author?

Bonus question: Any other Japanese sci-fi/dystopian/magical realism book recommendations?

4 comments

  1. [2]
    DefinitelyNotAFae
    (edited )
    Link
    Are you thinking of The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist? Plot Summary One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely...

    Are you thinking of The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist?

    Plot Summary

    One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty-single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries--are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders.

    It's Swedish not Japanese but the cover reminds me of a Murakami cover. (Either way I ordered it)

    4 votes
    1. kitschqueen
      Link Parent
      This is it! I read it right after The Memory Police and grouped them together in my mind! Thank you.

      This is it! I read it right after The Memory Police and grouped them together in my mind! Thank you.

      3 votes
  2. [2]
    Well_known_bear
    Link
    You may enjoy 密やかな結晶 / The Memory Police by Ogawa Youko. It's a jun-bungaku story about a woman living on an island under a dystopian regime that 'removes' elements of reality day by day.

    You may enjoy 密やかな結晶 / The Memory Police by Ogawa Youko.

    It's a jun-bungaku story about a woman living on an island under a dystopian regime that 'removes' elements of reality day by day.

    2 votes
    1. kitschqueen
      Link Parent
      Thank you! I loved this one and think of it often.

      Thank you! I loved this one and think of it often.

      2 votes