scotchsaurus 's review for:

The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya

3.0

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A nice departure from the empty absurdity of many contemporary magical realist stories. Here, every strange thing is a weighted metaphor for the loss of self and imprisonment in unhappy marriages. These are nearly horror stories, given Japan’s institutionalized, systemic misogyny. But I wanted a way out for these women and a bit more hope or magic than stark social realism. I’d like to imagine the dog who pisses everywhere and is abandoned in “An Exotic Marriage” becomes the part of the pack that terrorizes the town in “The Dogs.”