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Chargement... The Rental Sister: A Novel (édition 2014)par Jeff Backhaus
Information sur l'oeuvreHikikomori and the Rental Sister: A Novel par Jeff Backhaus
   Aucun Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.   ) ChetBowers | Mar 10, 2021 |  Highly recommended, 5 stars. A really wonderful novel. ( ) stephanie_M | Apr 30, 2020 |  Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.Some novelists can shrink the world down to a very small place and still create a rich, detailed, and often beautiful universe. This is the story of a young American father, Thomas, and his wife, Silke. When their small son was killed in a tragic accident, Thomas cannot forgive himself and becomes ‘hikikomori’ - a complete recluse who has withdrawn into his room and away from human interaction. After several years, Silke is desperate when Thomas will literally do no more than occasionally speak through his locked door. She makes one last, extreme effort to draw Thomas out by hiring Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant. Megumi acts as a ‘rental sister’, a special sort of female outreach counselor who patiently leads Thomas back from his seclusion. The novel is unique and nuanced and written with complete control and lyricism and depth of feeling. How does Silke feel to lose her husband within their own home? How does Megumi feel to be a rental sister with her own personal losses and sacrifices? And Thomas… the author allows us into Thomas’s mind and heart, an experience of overwhelming guilt but leading to hope and finally back to love…but with Silke or with Megumi? Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is not a long story but many of the best novels are not. The publisher created a perfect, beautiful, small volume and within, Jeff Backhaus’s debut is memorable and distinctive. His readers will be patiently awaiting his next. (  ) KatyBee | Apr 18, 2020 |  ) KnivesBoone | Jul 29, 2016 | Cette critique a été écrite dans le cadre des Critiques en avant-première de LibraryThing.Thomas has been staying in his room for 3 years, emerging only in the dead of night to buy groceries. Then he retreats to his room, shuts the door and deadbolts it. He hasn’t seen his wife, Silke, in all that time except from the dark hallway as he passes her bedroom when he goes out to buy groceries. Some tragedy caused him to go into his room and nothing Silke says or does will bring him out. Then Megumi, a young Japanese girl, is hired by Silke to be his rental sister. In Japan people like Thomas are called hikikomori and Megumi is familiar with them because her own brother was one. At first Megumi does not want to be a rental sister to Thomas because her experience with her brother was very traumatic. She is unable to say no to Silke though so she goes to talk to Thomas just the one time. Although Thomas is silent for the first visit Megumi finds she is unable to stay away. All three of the main characters have withdrawn from life although Thomas is the most extreme example. By the end they are ready to re-enter the world and are better for having encountered each other. It is almost like a fairy tale where everything ends happily ever after which is what bothered me about the book. However, sometimes it is nice to retreat to tales that do end happily. (  ) gypsysmom | Nov 7, 2014 |
 Backhaus writes beautifully; there’s no fault to be found with his prose. However, the story itself just doesn’t hold together; it’s too close to realism to be magical and so readers may struggle to suspend disbelief. The concept itself—and the question as to why the U.S. hasn’t experienced the sort of “hikikomori" phenomena, although perhaps the current crop of basement-dwelling, Cheetos-eating, underemployed young men constitute our version of it—is one that would be worth exploring in a novel.
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML: A "masterpiece" (Robert Goolrick) about a withdrawn husband, a desperate wife, and the young Japanese woman who is hired to break down the walls between them. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Critiques des anciens de LibraryThing en avant-premièreLe livre Hikikomori and the Rental Sister de Jeff Backhaus était disponible sur LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
 Google Books — Chargement...GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: (3.59)
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