What's Left of Me Is Yours

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "Wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Satô hires Kaitarô, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Satô has never truly understood Rina or her desires, and Kaitarô's job is to do exactly that.

Zusatztext Scott deftly exposes how life-limiting even the most well-intentioned lies can be, especially for women in a society that remains as patriarchal as Japan's. . . For the outsider, What's Left of Me Is Yours is an extraordinary window onto [Japanese] culture. . . Each chapter of this enrapturing novel is elegantly brief and charged with barely contained emotion. Yet Scott's subject remains vast: the idea that the law itself does not protect the innocent, and 'that what matters most is knowledge of ourselves and others.' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW "Mesmerizing" LOS ANGELES TIMES "Fascinating...The world [Scott] creates in What's Left of Me Is Yours feels very sure under foot: deeply researched, but delicately described... She braids her different characters' timelines together with sophistication, her storytelling harmoniously well-constructed. The big questions over whether it's better to lie or to tell a difficult truth, and what might constitute a betrayal, are layered across generations and decades and there is strength in the subtlety with which Scott slowly unpacks them." THE GUARDIAN "Beautiful. I loved it!" Lisa See, bestselling author of THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN Remember that new-discovery, time-stopping, every-moment-is-magical kind of love? That's what it felt like to read this novel. Then limerence turns to passion which leads to tragedy and suddenly this book is impossible to put down as you speed toward a conclusion that is as surprising as it is satisfying. JAMIE FORD, bestselling author of HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET Scott deftly spins a web through modern day Tokyo in this captivating dual-perspective rendering of a young woman determined to find out the truth behind her mother's murder. NEWSWEEK Scott poignantly evokes both a mother trapped by the choices made for her and a daughter learning to deal with her own precarious freedom. She clearly defines the unfortunate effects of the traditional Japanese legal system on women, and with carefully accumulated details describes a Japan both physically and psychologically teetering on the edge of change. BOOKLIST [An] intense debut. . . Exhilarating. . . Byzantine subplots, distinctive characters, and atmospheric settings will leave readers spellbound. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY An unusual and stylish story of love and murder... KIRKUS REVIEW "A gripping and instantly compelling story about love and loss and how they shape our lives.... This is a cleverly constructed, shrewd and beautiful novel with as much tension as heart, and plenty of worthy conversation starters about passion, deception and memory." BOOKREPORTER.COM A simmering tale of passion and murder set in the murky world of the wakaresaseya: agents hired to break up marriages. . . A tender, literary love story [mixed] with a meticulously researched police procedural. . . A strong message of hope and self-realization from an unusually intelligent whodunnit. ASIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS "Scott delivers a delicately nuanced account of a complex tragedy rooted in the clash between illicit desire and the obligations of duty." IRISH TIMES "This incredible debut is one you'll be pressing into the hands of others... it's an exquisite read." WOMAN'S WEEKLY "The wealth of detail about life in Japan is truly fascinating... you'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler." SUNDAY EXPRESS "At once luminous and captivating, What's Left of Me is Yours is the best kind of fiction: it tells a truth. All the easy lies about love fall away, as Stephanie Scott explores its often bitter, twisting, aching core. This is a brilliant...

Autorentext
Stephanie Scott is a Singaporean and British writer who was born and raised in South East Asia. She read English Literature at York and Cambridge and holds an M.St in Creative Writing from Oxford. Scott was awarded a BAJS Toshiba Studentship for her anthropological work on her novel What's Left of Me Is Yours and has been made a member of the British Japanese Law Association as a result of her research. What's Left of Me Is Yours was named a Brooklyn Book Festival Debut of the Year and a Guardian / Observer Best Debut of 2020. She is based in Singapore and London.

Klappentext

"Each chapter of this enrapturing novel is elegantly brief and charged with barely contained emotion." --New York Times Book Review

A gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, for readers of Everything I Never Told You and The Perfect Nanny, What's Left of Me Is Yours charts a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life--and her murder.

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that--until he does it too well. While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter's life.

Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, Stephanie Scott exquisitely renders the affair and its intricate repercussions. As Rina's daughter, Sumiko, fills in the gaps of her mother's story and her own memory, Scott probes the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.

Leseprobe

What’s in a Name?

 

For the Sarashima, the naming of a child is a family matter. For me, it marked a bond with tradition that would govern my life. The names of my maternal relatives have always been chosen at Kiyoji in Meguro. You can just about glimpse the temple from the park at the end of our street. It sits at the base of a hill in the very center of our neighborhood; the green peaks of its roof tiles gleam in the sun and the red pillars of the portico peer out over the surrounding buildings.

As I grew up, my grandfather told me that our family had worshipped there since coming to Tokyo. He said that they remained at prayer during the firebombing of the city and that after the war they had restored the temple. For him, it is a symbol of regeneration.

 

This is why, as soon as Mama recovered from my birth, instead of gathering around the kamidana in the northern corner of the living room, my family went to Kiyoji and my mother carried me in her arms beneath the gates and into the heart of the temple complex.

 

As we climbed the stone steps leading to the main hall, my mother glanced up at the sprawling wooden roof, at its curved eaves stretching out beyond the building—­shutting out the sunlight—­resulting in the cool, dark shadows within. Inside, we proceeded through the sweet smoke of incense to the altar. All around us the wind blew through in gusts and the air swirled, while outside the bronze bells of the surrounding temples began to toll.

 

I don’t remember this journey, but I can see it quite clearly: me in my cream blanket, my father carrying Tora, the toy white tiger Grandpa had given to me, and my grandfather himself, grav…