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    The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories
    Unavailable
    The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories
    Unavailable
    The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories
    Ebook186 pages2 hours

    The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories

    By Yukiko Motoya

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

  • THE LONESOME BODYBUILDER marks the English-language debut of one of Japan's most celebrated and surreal contemporary writers, Yukiko Motoya
  • The story collection contains ten lucid yet slippery short stories and one novella perfect for fans of Etgar Keret and Clarice Lispector
  • Each story begins rooted firmly in reality, until the edges start to blur—shifting from the stable to the surreal with thrilling and beautiful precision
  • PICNIC IN THE STORM, a story within the collection, won Japan’s prestigious Kenzaburo Oe Prize, which comes with a $30,000 grant for use by the publisher of the English edition for marketing and publicity
  • A housewife fulfills a new dream of becoming a bodybuilder, without her husband noticing; a group of monkeys in a zoo miraculously bring their chimpanzee friend back to life without pomp and circumstance; and a boutique clerk struggles to help an amorphous customer to find something that fits, no matter the cost. Each story is enchanting and ever so slightly sinister
  • Motoya won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, for AN EXOTIC MARRIAGE, the novella contained in THE LONESOME BODYBUILDER; this book offers the exciting opportunity to introduce Motoya to a U.S. audience. Previously, her translated stories have appeared in GRANTA and CATAPULT

    Bookseller Praise for The Lonesome Bodybuilder

  • "The Lonesome Bodybuilder takes ordinary people and thrusts them into bizarre situations, which they accept with equanimity: the woman morphing into her husband doesn't question the transformation, just does her best to deal with it. The child confronted with a mysterious specter at the bus shelter doesn't run away, but eventually eats the biscuit he offers (and it's delicious). The world's most dedicated saleswoman will not leave work until her amorphous, possibly alien client finds the perfect garment. It is both amusing and a devastatingly effective way to explore our most elemental fears. Motoya's stories are neon bright with touches of darkness, like Saturday morning cartoons that occasionally veer into the grotesque." —Lauren Peugh, Powell's Books (Portland, OR)
  • "There's weird and then there's 'oh my goodness, what the heck did I just read?' weird. The stories collected in Yukiko Motoya's The Lonesome Bodybuilder belong to the latter group. These stories are incisive explorations of domestic life fraught with tension and 'out-of-left-field' bizarre field trips into the dark woods of the mind. Immersive, captivating—I can't get enough of Yukiko Motoya!" —Uriel Perez, BookPeople (Austin, TX)
  • "This collection had me riveted from beginning to end. Each story was a beautiful and intriguing blend of surrealism and the mundane, and nothing of Motoya's succinct language is lost in the translation. An excellent escape book." —Lauren Nopenz Fairley, Curious Iguana (Frederick, MD)
  • "To call these stories simply strange is to do them a disservice. They are uncanny in that uncomfortably familiar way, when ordinary objects turn out to be magical, and the world does not quite work the way we think it does. And yet when magic occurs, you feel not at all surprised, as if this weirdness is what you had expected all along." —Anton Bogomazov, Politics and Prose (Washington, D.C.)
  • "I loved these quirky, unique stories and can't wait to see more from this author!" —Christine Onorati, WORD Bookstore (Brooklyn, NY)
  • "Wunderbar! Hints of Saunders and very reminiscent of Murakami but stands solidly on its own two feet. 'An Exotic Marriage,' 'How to Burden the Girl,' and 'Q&A' all blew me away with their originality, and more importantly, their assault on outdated social expectations. Yet again, an Akutagawa winner that I love!" —Randy Schiller, Left Bank Books (St. Louis, MO)
  • "The stories in this collection are funny and unnerving, mundane and surreal. It's been a minute since I read so
    • LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSoft Skull Press
    Release dateNov 6, 2018
    ISBN9781593766832
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Lonesome Bodybuilder

    3.5/5

    78 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Very weird short stories. Liked them!
    • 2/5
      While the titular story holds its charm, and subtle social analysis and indulgence of society, I felt that the rest of the collection fell short. This is a shame, but the collection was still worth reading.2 stars.
    • 4/5
      It’s a very odd book. The was that the author combines these Japanese myths into day to day life is extremely unique and well written. It is a wonderful translation and an amazing peek into the world of the authors mind.