قصة الكتاب :
Shinchōsha (Shinchō Bunko), 2014. 615 pp. ¥790. ISBN 978-4-
10-131332-0.
Kanehara Hitomi
Born in Tokyo in 1983. Awarded the Subaru Literary Prize in 2003
and the Akutagawa Prize in 2004 for “Hebi ni piasu” [trans. Snakes
and Earrings]. Won the Oda Sakunosuke Prize in 2010 for Torippu
torappu [Trip Trap] and the Bunkamura Deux Magots Literary Prize
for Mazāzu in 2012. Other works include Asshu beibī [Ash Baby],
Amebic, Ōtofikushon [trans. Autofiction], Haidora [Hydra], Hoshi e
ochiru [Falling into Stars], Yūutsutachi [The Depressed], and Mariāju,
mariāju [Marriage, Marriage].

Mazāzu is something of a departure for Kanehara Hitomi, who has been electrifying
readers with graphic depictions of sexuality and depraved, edgy lifestyles
since her flashy debut as a young author. The theme of Kanehara’s latest novel—as
hinted at in the title, the trials of young mothers struggling to raise small children—
is almost classical by comparison. Doubtless it was the author’s own experience
of marriage, childbirth, and motherhood that enabled her to tackle such a
theme head-on.
As the story unfolds, the viewpoint alternates among three young mothers
whose children are enrolled at the same daycare center. The first is Satsuki, a
fashion model who has a young daughter by her husband and is now pregnant
with her lover’s child. Then there is Yuka, a writer whose husband comes home
only on weekends, leaving her alone to care for her young child while pressed by
deadlines; buckling under the pressure, she resorts to drugs. Ryōko is a stay-athome
mother who is so exhausted that she ends up abusing her own son. What
these three characters have in common is a terrible sense of isolation afflicting
them as they raise their children without the support and understanding of their
husbands.
Yet Kanehara does not approach her subject matter as an opportunity for a
feminist critique of contemporary Japanese society. Her achievement lies in carving
out new paths for contemporary fiction through her unflinching exploration
of human love and hate, isolation and togetherness. (NM)