Hikikomori and the Rental Sister

by Jeff Backhaus Narrated by Stephen Bowlby

Overview

Thomas Tessler, devastated by a tragedy, has cloistered himself in his bedroom and shut out the world for the past three years. His wife, Silke, lives in the next room, but Thomas no longer shares his life with her, leaving his hideout only in the wee hours of the night to buy food at the store around the corner from their Manhattan apartment. Isolated, withdrawn, damaged, Thomas is hikikomori.
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*Desperate to salvage their life together, Silke hires Megumi, a young Japanese woman attuned to the hikikomori phenomenon, to lure Thomas back into the world. In Japan Megumi is called a “rental sister,” though her job may involve much more than familial comforts. As Thomas grows to trust Megumi, a deepening and sensual relationship unfolds. But what are the risks of such intimacy? And what must these three broken people surrender in order to find hope?
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*Revelatory and provocative, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister tears through the emotional walls of grief and delves into the power of human connection to break through to the waiting world outside.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Hikikomori, Backhaus explains in his implausible debut, is the Japanese term for withdrawn, an experience apparently more common than Silke Tessler realizes when she goes looking for help for her husband, Thomas, who shut himself up in a room three years earlier and has barely been outside of it since. Though the traditional ”rental sister” concept—evidently an antidote for a hikikomori—remains vague, in this novel it means that Silke hires a beautiful 22-year-old Japanese girl to bring Thomas back into the world. Lucky for him, oral sex and illicit nights together hiding from Silke work wonders with even the most reclusive. While the intellectual underpinning of the book could be said to pose interesting questions about guilt, love, and renewal, more often than not it reads like an adolescent fantasy in which Thomas, in order to save himself and his marriage, must subject himself to Megumi’s “immense” sexual appetite; what could be better than a wife-approved tryst with a publicly demure but privately voracious young woman who wants nothing in return? Blatant metaphors of winter, spring, and a spiritually cleansing trip to the hot springs don’t buoy the disagreeable proceedings. Agent: David Marshall, Marshall Rights. (Jan.)

Reviews

A mesmerizing debut at once sorrowful, intimate, and optimistic . . . Told in crisp and lyrical prose and a nontraditional narrative that shifts between first- and third-person, Backhaus’s novel is courageous and spare, an enthralling success.” —Booklist, starred review

“[A] strange and tender debut novel . . . His writing, which is as clear and direct as flowing water, convincingly portrays the deepening connection between Thomas and Megumi.” —The Wall Street Journal

“This is one remarkable debut.” —The Toronto Star

“Tender and deftly rendered.” —Arkansas Democrat Gazette

“The book is . . . written deeply, cleanly, sparely and gently, like fingers playing over the strings of a harp. Jeff Backhaus has apparently worked at many jobs, but it seems that he has now found his vocation.” —St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Listen to the music of this novel closely. It is the sound of genius. To miss it would be to miss a story that will change the way you feel about your own life.” —Robert Goolrick, author of A Reliable Wife

“Required reading.” —The New York Post

From the Publisher

[A] quiet but poignant exploration of loneliness and self-discovery.”
—USA Today

“Stephen Bowlby’s use of an unemotional voice for narrator Thomas captures the tone of this quirky, spare story of loneliness, grief, and love. . . . With this debut, Backhaus proves he is an author to watch. Recommended.”
—Library Journal

USA Today

[A] quiet but poignant exploration of loneliness and self-discovery.”
—USA Today

Wall Street Journal

Backhaus’s strange and tender debut novel . . . traces the painful rehabilitations of three lonely souls. His writing . . . is clear and direct as flowing water.”
—Wall Street Journal

The New York Post

“Required reading.”

St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Written deeply, cleanly, sparely and gently, like fingers playing over the strings of a harp.”

The Toronto Star

“This is one remarkable debut.”

The Wall Street Journal

“[A] strange and tender debut novel . . . His writing, which is as clear and direct as flowing water, convincingly portrays the deepening connection between Thomas and Megumi.”

Booklist

“A mesmerizing debut at once sorrowful, intimate, and optimistic . . . Told in crisp and lyrical prose and a nontraditional narrative that shifts between first- and third-person, Backhaus’s novel is courageous and spare, an enthralling success.”—Booklist, starred review

Library Journal - Audio

Following the accidental death of his son, Thomas Tessler has withdrawn from the world, only leaving his room for nocturnal visits to the convenience store near the Manhattan apartment he shares with his wife, Silke. Thomas has become hikikomori, embodying a social phenomenon in Japan whereby young people, mostly young men, withdraw from society. Near despair after three years of trying to help him, Silke recognizes she can't and hires a "rental sister." Acting as a counselor of sorts, Japanese immigrant Megumi is uniquely qualified because her own brother also was hikikomori, and she is battling her own sense of loss. Speaking through Thomas's closed door, Megumi slowly gains his confidence by sharing stories from her own life, and they begin to talk. Without intending to do so, they develop a deeply intimate and sexual relationship that ultimately enables both of them to reenter their real lives. Stephen Bowlby's use of an unemotional voice for narrator Thomas captures the tone of this quirky, spare story of loneliness, grief, and love. Appropriately, he changes to a happier, Japanese-tinged voice for Megumi. With this debut, Backhaus proves he is an author to watch. VERDICT Recommended. ["This debut has a claustrophobic feel owing to its subject matter, but Backhaus provides a light at the end of the tunnel and some hope for his tormented characters," read the review of the Algonquin hc, LJ 2/1/13.—Ed.]—Judy Murray, Monroe Cty. Lib. Syst., MI

Kirkus Reviews

A debut novel of grief and its porn-fantasy resolution. The hikikomori of the title is Thomas Tessler. He has lived locked in a room in his Manhattan apartment for three years, while his wife, Silke, goes on with her life next door in their former bedroom. Thomas leaves the apartment on rare occasions, at night, to stock up on supplies--TV dinners, canned food, coffee--while Silke sleeps. At her wit's end, Silke finds a young Japanese woman, Megumi, the rental sister of the title, to lure Thomas out of his room. Thomas has locked himself in because he cannot get over the death of his son, for which he feels overwhelming guilt. What the patient and loving Silke cannot accomplish, Megumi pulls off in a matter of weeks. Megumi's brother was also hikikomori in Japan, where apparently the phenomenon is more common, the hikikomori having a cultural identity or dignity unavailable in the States--and this qualifies her to visit the American stranger. As we learn more about Megumi--she sold her panties for shopping money and then her body to spirit her brother out of the country--one of the most egregious stereotypes emerges from this chrysalis: the hooker with a heart of gold. Of course Megumi falls for Thomas. He is the strong, silent type after all. Thomas' lair turns out to be the perfect place to carry on an affair, and Silke seems to accept, if not welcome it--she contracted for it. A handful of taut moments explore the dramatic potential of this ménage à trois. A conflagration heralds a conclusion consistent with conventional expectations. Occasional moments of fine writing cannot salvage this unpromising debut.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170010066
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	01/08/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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