Lonely Hearts Killer

by Tomoyuki Hoshino, Andrienne Carey Hurley (Translator)

Overview

What happens when a popular and young emperor suddenly dies, and the only person available to succeed him is his sister? How can people in an island country survive as climate change and martial law are eroding more and more opportunities for local sustainability and mutual aid? And what can be done to challenge the rise of a new authoritarian political leadership at a time when the general public is obsessed with fears related to personal and national “security”? These and other provocative questions provide the backdrop for this powerhouse novel about young adults embroiled in what appear to be more private matters—friendships, sex, a love suicide, and struggles to cope with grief and work.

PM Press is proud to bring you this first English translation of a full-length novel by the award-winning author Tomoyuki Hoshino.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604860849
Publisher:	PM Press
Publication date:	11/01/2009
Series:	Found in Translation
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Since his literary debut in 1997, Tomoyuki Hoshino has published twelve books on subjects ranging from “terrorism” to queer/trans community formations; from the exploitation of migrant workers to journalistic ethics; and from the Japanese emperor system to neoliberalism. He is also well known in Japan for his nonfiction essays on politics, society, the arts, and sports, particularly soccer. He maintains a website and blog at http://www.hoshinot.jp/.

Adrienne Carey Hurley is Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies at McGill Universityin Montréal.

Editorial Reviews

A major novel by Tomoyuki Hoshino, one of the most compelling and challenging writers in Japan today, Lonely Hearts Killer deftly weaves a path between geopolitical events and individual experience, forcing a personal confrontation with the political brutality of the postmodern era. Adrienne Hurley’s brilliant translation captures the nuance and wit of Hoshino’s exploration of depths that rise to the surface in the violent acts of contemporary youth.”
—Thomas LaMarre, William Dawson Professor of East Asian Studies, McGill University

“Since his debut, Hoshino has used as the core of his writing a unique sense of the unreality of things, allowing him to illuminate otherwise hidden realities within Japanese society. And as he continues to write from this tricky position, it goes without saying that he produces work upon work of extraordinary beauty and power.”
—Yuko Tsushima, Award-winning Japanese Novelist

“Reading Hoshino’s novels is like traveling to a strange land all by yourself. You touch down on an airfield in a foreign country, get your passport stamped, and leave the airport all nerves and anticipation. The area around an airport is more or less the same in any country. It is sterile and without character. There, you have no real sense of having come somewhere new. But then you take a deep breath and a smell you’ve never encountered enters your nose, a wind you’ve never felt brushes against your skin, and an unknown substance rains down upon your head.”
—Mitsuyo Kakuta, Award-winning Japanese Novelist

From the Publisher

Something feels lost in translation in Hoshino’s parable-like tale of intrigue set in a conformist island nation that bears a striking resemblance to Japan. After the popular young emperor dies and is replaced by his less-than-competent sister, two alienated young men post online a personal/political manifesto and participate in a murder-suicide that sparks wave after wave of copycat murder-suicides. Narration is then assumed by Iroha, a young woman who was connected to both men and is now hidden away at a mountain retreat because she fears for her life and wants to avoid the public scorn stemming from her relationship with originators of the murder-suicide trend. Unfortunately, the prose is achingly dull, and the narrative’s lack of focus prevents readers from connecting. Clearly, there’s supposed to be symbolic and satirical significance, but the lack of clarity—both in the writing and the concept—is deadly. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly