Abstract

The debut novel "Gifted" (2022) and the second novel "Graceless" (2023) by this notable female author were both nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. This is her first collection of interconnected short stories.

Set in an aging apartment complex scheduled for demolition in 2025, the stories explore the "desires" of people who cannot live by their instincts like "animals." These desires are depicted across seven stories.

Summaries of Three Stories
Room 403: A Forty-Three-Year-Old Desperately Wants a Dog Ayumi, a freelance writer who enjoys the freedom of her job and a relationship without responsibilities, encounters a dog on an adoption website. This meeting sparks a desire for a "priority existence" that brings "constraints" and "inconveniences," leading her to decide to leave the apartment.

Room 501: A Seventeen-Year-Old Wants to Spend Her Days Whitening Her Skin in a Kotatsu Ui, a high school girl living with her mother after her parents' divorce, is used to her self-centered mother but deeply dislikes her mother's current boyfriend. She secretly checks his social media, growing more disgusted and plotting to break them up.

Room 403: A Thirty-Nine-Year-Old Wants Cold Hands Yukiko, unsure if she wants children, starts freezing her eggs as she approaches forty. She thought it was the best way to postpone life's choices, but she realizes that the "eggs" are now restricting her actions.

Other Stories
The collection also includes stories about Seri, a maid café worker who wants to live off other people's money; Riichi, an elementary school boy who wants to renounce the "power of the eldest son"; and Haruki, who wants to quit being a host and take his girlfriend to his family home. The final story features Jun, a convenience store clerk on the first floor of the apartment, observing the residents' lives after the demolition.

Selling Points
The lives of the protagonists "living their daily lives" feel relatable to readers, allowing them to enjoy the stories while drawing parallels to their own lives. The realistic thoughts and emotions of the characters make it feel as if they are "speaking for the reader's inner self."
Themes such as "mother and daughter," "work," "marriage," "childbirth," and "family" resonate particularly with female readers who face changing concerns at different life stages.
Additional Information
The current work, "No Animals," is recommended by the author Natsuo Kirino.
"Gifted" has been translated and published in Asia (China, Taiwan) and Western countries (USA, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, Poland, among others).

Author’s Information

Suzuki Suzumi was born in Tokyo in 1983. She made her AV debut while studying at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University. After that, she completed her Master's in Social Information Studies at the University of Tokyo Graduate School while working in cabaret clubs. Her master's thesis was later published as a book titled "Sociology of AV Actresses." In 2022, her novel "Gifted" was shortlisted for the 167th Akutagawa Prize, and in 2023, her novel "Graceless" was shortlisted for the 168th Akutagawa Prize. Her other works include "Sell Your Body and Say Goodbye: A Nighttime Lady's Theory of Love and Happiness," "Ukimi," "Tradition," "YUKARI," and "The Prostitute's Bookshelf," among many others.