capsule reviews
yuko tsushima, junichiro tanizaki, bernard taylor
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Territory of Light (Yuko Tsushima, 1979 / trans. Geraldine Harcourt, 2019)
This is a novel about a woman who is doing her best. It’s not good enough! In fact, it’s kind of bad. She is doing a bad job. But what else can she do?
Having been left by her husband, our unnamed narrator moves into a light-filled apartment with her toddler daughter and struggles to build a life of her own. Though she has a job, an easily accessible daycare, and help from her mother, she can’t keep her head above water for more than a few seconds at a time. She never gets enough sleep. Plus, even though her husband initiated their separation, and even though he’s living with another woman, he whines to their old friends about her unforgiving nature and presents himself as a victim; they call her and lecture her on giving up a good man.