Stand-in Companion

Stand-in Companion

Kazufumi Shiraishi

Raj Mahtani (Translator)

42pp

Another wonderful short story published by the Red Circle Publishers bringing eyes to writers who deserve a wider audience.

This book, though short, grows itself slowly to unwind first one level, then more and more levels, of questions about what it is to be human and what it is to be in a relationship.

We have the story of heartbreak, followed by a unique and very misdirected plot for revenge.

When Yutori's husband Hayato chooses to leave her, possibly due to his inability to stop blaming her for their lack of an offspring, it is just too heartbreaking to accepts. Luckily this future world has the option of  a "stand-in companion". With all the memories (well, maybe not all of them) of your former love, all packaged in a suitable undetectable android form, what could go wrong.

With such a short story, I won't go any further with plot details and speak more about impressions instead.

There is a lot of Charlie Kaufman here, with obvious connections to Eternal Sunshine, with themes of love  lost, found, abandoned and the real meaning of memories. 

There is a sadness and touching beauty to this novella, with just a little vagueness and confusion, appropriate to the ideas under examination.

Recommended highly and a perfect introduction to Shiraishi, who will hopefully follow this up with some more translations being made available to the English audience.