The Last Children of Tokyo

By Yoko Tawada, Margaret Mitsutani (translator),

Book cover of The Last Children of Tokyo

Book description

Yoshiro thinks he might never die. A hundred years old and counting, he is one of Japan's many 'old-elderly'; men and women who remember a time before the air and the sea were poisoned, before terrible catastrophe promted Japan to shut itself off from the rest of the world. He…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Last Children of Tokyo as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is such a difficult book to review. And yet I was so close to giving it 5 stars.
There are things in this book, on a technical level, that I usually hate but they just didn't bother me. I was so engaged and invested in the story. I've seen people call this charming or enchanting, and that sums it up. It's a slow, meandering slice of life ramble - a style I like when done well, as this is. But that life we're seeing a slice of is in a future that is deeply intriguing but that none of…

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