Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories
Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories
Dilemmas of Working Women: Stories
Description
Description
"Now offered in translation for the first time, this collection featuring women navigating societal expectations (and their small rebellions) is a classic." -- Boston Globe
A spiky, edgy collection of five sly yet sensitive stories spotlighting clear-eyed and "difficult" women who are navigating their identities as workers and women in contemporary Japan--a feminist, anti-capitalist modern classic published outside Asia and in English for the first time.
The Dilemmas of Working Women is Fumio Yamamoto's darkly witty look at modern Japanese women who are ambivalent about their lives and jobs. In "Naked," a woman who's simultaneously lost her business and her husband finds that it is surprisingly comfortable to stay at home sewing stuffed animals, even if it makes her a "loser" in the eyes of society. In "Planarian," a young woman recovering from breast cancer tells her friends and boyfriend that she would prefer to be the titular worm to organically regenerate her body. Each of these spiky women--as well as the three other protagonists in this groundbreaking work--chafes against social expectations that equate work with worth and demand women squeeze into the confining and sometimes dehumanizing role of employee in a world built by and for men.
First published in Japan in 2000, The Dilemmas of Working Women struck a nerve with Japanese readers and became a bestselling literary sensation, selling nearly half a million copies and winning the prestigious Naoki Prize in Literature. A quarter of a century later, this brilliant modern classic--available for the first time outside Asia and in English--remains deliciously funny and astonishingly relevant.
Translated from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"[The Dilemmas of Working Women] will rattle your brain and heart." - Dakota Johnson
"Witty, wise and thought-provoking, these darkly comic stories portray five unique women as they deal with the societal pressures that come with being a woman in their world." - Cecelia Ahern, bestselling author of P.S. I Love You
"Here are people caught between loss and regeneration. The struggles of their forlorn hearts are depicted with a light, graceful touch. There will come a point in all of our lives when we will need Fumio Yamamoto's writing." - Saou Ichikawa, author of the National Book Award and International Booker Prize-longlisted Hunchback
"The Dilemmas of Working Women is a delight. With acute insight and sly humor, Fumio Yamamoto depicts the lives of modern Japanese women in all their complexity. The characters, in their quirky idiosyncrasies, are deeply familiar; their stoicisms, heartbreaking. A colloquial and breezy translation that does not read as such." - Yoon Choi, award-winning author of Skinship
"What an engaging, witty, and unique book. So brilliantly written that I kept trying to memorize sentences in order to repeat them to people later. What a win for the English language that we're finally getting to experience Yamamoto's inimitable voice." - Roxy Dunn, author of As Young as This
"Now offered in translation for the first time, this collection featuring women navigating societal expectations (and their small rebellions) is a classic. The author brings complexity, emotion, and a delicate touch to extremely relatable characters." - Boston Globe
"Brian Bergstrom . . . 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. . . . That Yamamoto writes solely in first-person cleverly encourages immediate engagement for readers, creating an instant gateway into the intimacies of these characters' lives. . . . 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."
- Shelf Awareness
"First published 25 years ago in Japan, this award-winning best-seller captures the modern woman in a dark, unflinching portrait. . . . Messy, mundane, and a bit self-deprecating, Yamamoto's stories remind readers that they are not alone in life's bleakness."
- Booklist
"The Dilemmas of Working Women provides a curious look into the interior lives of Japanese women and the ambivalence of modern life. . . . Funny, at times self-deprecating, and unafraid to lean into the darkness, Fumio Yamamoto's masterpiece is sure to find resonance with readers today."
- The Chicago Review of Books
"Japan and its writers have been coping with the reality of economic decline for decades. It's part of what makes some of the fiction translated into English during the recent Japanese literature boom seem so of-the-moment. . . . the translation of Yamamoto's short story collection comes 25 years after its original publication, but the English-language translation is startlingly relevant. . . . [Translator] Bergstrom's translation of Yamamoto's writing is a treat in and of itself. It's full of clever turns of phrase . . . Even more impressive, each of the five first-person narrators also come across with their own, unique voices, an achievement likely attributable to both Yamamoto's Japanese original and Bergstrom's English translation. . . . It is, indeed, Yamamoto's "difficult" heroines and her ambiguous endings, and her interest in the emotional contours of women's everyday lives', that is on full display in the collection and makes it a both powerful and delightful read."
- Asian Review of Books
"After the author's death in 2021, the novelist Yu Nagira wrote in the Asahi newspaper that Yamamoto quietly and realistically depicted the inner lives that women hid so they could live in peace. This book brings those lives to the page in five raw, emotionally candid tales about men and women who often aren't sure what they want and are frequently squeezed by societal and family expectations. . . . Readers will observe women -- and men -- trampled by their partners and then stand up for themselves. . . . Brian Bergstrom deserves credit for bringing these stories to English speakers with his able translation."
- Associated Press
"Engaging, witty, and unique. . . . What a win for the English language that we're finally getting to experience Yamamoto's inimitable voice." - Roxy Dunn, author of As Young as This
"Audacious. . . . Many of Yamamoto's empathic characters--even a quarter-century after their debut--remain timeless figures of strength and resilience." - Shelf Awareness
"Funny, at times self-deprecating, and unafraid to lean into the darkness, Fumio Yamamoto's masterpiece is sure to find resonance with readers today." - Chicago Review of Books
"A powerful and delightful read." - Asian Review of Books
"A biting commentary against capitalism and the over-valuing of productivity, these five stories play with social expectations, everyday rebellions and what it means to be a working woman in a patriarchal society." - Ms. magazine
The Dilemmas of Working Women, translated by Brian Bergstrom, is a welcome gift for readers eager to explore perspectives on gender from Japanese literature. These stories subtly portray complex ways that women exist together through tenuous, sometimes painful intimacies...with their varied voices translated adeptly by Bergstrom, women are alternately disappointed, betrayed, loved, and rescued by women and girls around them. - World Literature Today
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
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