Drawing on her own experiences as a hostess and adult film actor, GiftedโSuzumi Suzukiโs first novel to be translated into Englishโoffers a nuanced, frank, and intimate portrayal of the lives of a mother and daughter getting by (or not) in an industry rarely depicted authentically in literary fiction.In the last days of her motherโs life, a young woman living in Tokyoโs red-light district is thrust into a s ...Full description
Drawing on her own experiences as a hostess and adult film actor, GiftedโSuzumi Suzukiโs first novel to be translated into Englishโoffers a nuanced, frank, and intimate portrayal of the lives of a mother and daughter getting by (or not) in an industry rarely depicted authentically in literary fiction.In the last days of her motherโs life, a young woman living in Tokyoโs red-light district is thrust into a split existence. By day, she negotiates her new role as caregiver of an abusive parent. By night, she drifts home from the hospital, goes out with other sex-workers, thinks about quitting smoking, and numbly remembers Eri, a friend who died the summer before. Her sensitivity to the details of her surroundings grounds an otherwise unstable world, one where each interaction requires a subtle negotiation of economic and sexual power, and proximity rarely means intimacy or connection.