Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone

by Sequoia Nagamatsu Narrated by Brian Nishii, June Angela

Overview

"You should be here; he's simply magnificent." These are the final words a biologist hears before his Margaret Mead-like wife dies at the hands of Godzilla. The words haunt him as he studies the kaiju (Japan's giant monsters) on an island reserve, attempting to understand the beauty his wife saw. "The Return to Monsterland" opens Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone, a collection of twelve fabulist and genre-bending stories inspired by Japanese folklore, historical events, and pop culture. In "Rokurokubi," a man who has the demonic ability to stretch his neck to incredible lengths tries to save a marriage built on secrets. The recently dead find their footing in "The Inn of the Dead's Orientation for Being a Japanese Ghost." In "Girl Zero," a couple navigates the complexities of reviving their deceased daughter via the help of a shapeshifter. And, in the title story, a woman instigates a months-long dancing frenzy in a Tokyo where people don't die but are simply reborn without their memories. Every story in the collection turns to the fantastic, the mysticism of the past, and the absurdities of the future to illuminate the spaces we occupy when we are at our most vulnerable."

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal - Audio

02/01/2023

Nagamatsu's (How High We Go in the Dark) wonderfully weird debut collection of short stories is now available in audio, narrated by Brian Nishii and June Angela. These 12 stories, inspired by Japanese folklore and pop culture, reveal an astonishing world populated by monsters and fabled creatures. "The Return to Monsterland" is the story of a biologist who studies Japan's legendary giant monsters and is haunted by memories of his wife, who was killed by Godzilla. Nishii brings a note of bitterness to "Rokurokubi," about a man who can stretch his neck for kilometers. He poignantly reads "Girl Zero," detailing a couple's fraught attempt to bring their dead daughter back to life. Acting as a foil to Nishii, Angela is perfectly if unsettlingly perky as the narrator of "The Inn of the Dead's Orientation for Being a Japanese Ghost," an upbeat and frank orientation to the afterlife. Nishii and Angela enhance these stories with spot-on pronunciations and apt characterizations. VERDICT This melancholy, slyly funny, and uncanny collection is thought-provoking and uncomfortable and in the best possible way. Nagamatsu's fans will be enchanted.—Sarah Hashimoto

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176566765
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	12/06/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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