Best of
Asian-Literature

2020

The Mountains Sing


Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai - 2020
    Tran Dieu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Noi, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Ho Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that will tear not just her beloved country but her family apart. Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope. This is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai’s first novel in English.

The Cat and The City


Nick Bradley - 2020
    And, with each detour, she brushes up against the seemingly disparate lives of the city-dwellers, connecting them in unexpected ways.But the city is changing. As it does, it pushes her to the margins where she chances upon a series of apparent strangers – from a homeless man squatting in an abandoned hotel, to a shut-in hermit afraid to leave his house, to a convenience store worker searching for love. The cat orbits Tokyo’s denizens, drawing them ever closer.

The Wall


Gautam Bhatia - 2020
    The days pass as they have for two thousand years: just enough to eat for just enough people, living by the rules. Within the city, everyone knows their place. But when Mithila tries to cross the Wall, every power in Sumer comes together to stop her. To break the rules is to risk all of civilization collapsing. But to follow them is to never know: who built the Wall? Why? And what would the world look like if it didn’t exist? As Mithila and her friends search for the truth, they must risk losing their families, the ones they love, and even their lives. Is a world they can’t imagine worth the only world they have? For fans of Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall and Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed comes an astonishingly powerful voice in speculative fiction that explores what it means to truly be free.

The Magical Language of Others


E.J. Koh - 2020
    After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji Koh’s parents return to South Korea for work, leaving fifteen-year-old Eun Ji and her brother behind in California. Overnight, Eun Ji finds herself abandoned and adrift in a world made strange by her mother’s absence. Her mother writes letters, in Korean, over the years seeking forgiveness and love—letters Eun Ji cannot fully understand until she finds them years later hidden in a box.As Eun Ji translates the letters, she looks to history—her grandmother Jun’s years as a lovesick wife in Daejeon, the horrors her grandmother Kumiko witnessed during the Jeju Island Massacre—and to poetry, as well as her own lived experience to answer questions inside all of us. Where do the stories of our mothers and grandmothers end and ours begin? How do we find words—in Korean, Japanese, English, or any language—to articulate the profound ways that distance can shape love? Eun Ji Koh fearlessly grapples with forgiveness, reconciliation, legacy, and intergenerational trauma, arriving at insights that are essential reading for anyone who has ever had to balance love, longing, heartbreak, and joy.The Magical Language of Others weaves a profound tale of hard-won selfhood and our deep bonds to family, place, and language, introducing—in Eun Ji Koh—a singular, incandescent voice.

Undertow


Jahnavi Barua - 2020
    In an uncharacteristic move, she sets off on an unexpected journey, away from her mother, Rukmini, and her home in Bengaluru, to distant, misty Assam. She comes looking for her beloved Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, but also seeks someone else-her grandfather, Torun Ram Goswami, someone she has never met before. She arrives at the Yellow House on the banks of the Brahmaputra, where Torun lives, not knowing that her life is about to change. Twenty-five years ago, Rukmini had been cast out of the family home by her mother, the formidable and charismatic Usha, while Torun watched silently. Loya now seeks answers, both from him and from the place that her mother once called home. In her quest, she finds an understanding not only of herself and her life but also of the precarious bonds that tie people together.A delicate, poignant portrait of family and all that it contains, Undertow becomes, in the hands of this gifted writer, an exploration of much more: home and the outside world, the insider and the outsider, and the ever-evolving nature of love itself.

Hellfire


Leesa Gazi - 2020
    Which meant that even in the eyes of Allah, ‘forty’ held some special meaning. Something special happened at forty, something special was going to happen.For the sisters Lovely and Beauty, home is a cage. Their mother Farida Khanam never lets them out of her hawk-eyed gaze.Leesa Gazi’s Hellfire opens with Lovely's first ever solo expedition to Gausia Market on her fortieth birthday. There will be many firsts for her today, but she mustn’t forget the curfew Farida Khanam has ordained. As Lovely roams the streets of Dhaka, her mother’s carefully constructed world begins to unravel. The twisted but working arrangements of a fragile household begin to assume a macabre quality as the day progresses.Told in stark, taut prose, this grisly tale of a family born of a dark secret is one of the most scintillating debuts in contemporary Bengali literature.

The Fisherman King


Kathrina Mohd Daud - 2020
    Now he’s back, and he says he can prove it. Six hundred years ago, a forbidden relationship between the royal children of Brunei set into motion a chain of events that will end with the death of a king...or the death of a god. As the story of Lisan’s true intentions – and what he was really doing in those years away – unravels, the story of those doomed royal children also spins to its inevitable conclusion.

The Mermaid from Jeju


Sumi Hahn - 2020
    She is the latest successful deep sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, Junja urges her mother to allow her to make the Goh family's annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade abalone and other sea delicacies for pork. Junja, a sea village girl, has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with a mountain boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja's place.Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father, Suwol is gone, the ghost of her mother haunts their home--from the meticulously tended herb garden that has now begun to sprout weeds, to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja.The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan's forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops, and her grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea's occupation understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, and the perils of post-WWII overtake her homelands, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she's ever known.

Not THAT Rich


Belinda Lei - 2020
    Congrats on a terrific debut!" - Maulik Pancholy, actor, activist and Stonewall Honor-winning author of THE BEST AT IT"He had class, he had style, and he certainly was not fresh off the boat. He was fresh off a private jet."Hunter and Trisha Wang, like the majority of their classmates, are trying to balance AP classes, Ivy League applications, numerous extracurriculars, and tumultuously juicy social lives, all while living in their affluent, suburban bubble. Will Hunter get into Stanford and still be able to maintain his relationship with the “it girl” Sierra Jones? Will Trisha find love with outsider Ray Martinez and figure out what’s going on with her influencer best friend, Pamela Shah? Will billionaire newcomer Jack Zhou figure out how to fit in? And who exactly is The Stranger? Welcome to Winchester High, a prestigious college preparatory school where students live seemingly perfect, privileged lives.In Not THAT Rich, we find that things are not always what they seem, and no matter how much money, power or influence you think you have, high school will always be complicated.

You are Eating an Orange. You are Naked.


Sheung-King - 2020
    In restaurants and hotel rooms, the couple begin telling folk tales to each other, perhaps as a way to fill the undefined space between them. Theirs is a comic and enigmatic relationship in which emotions are often muted and sometimes masked by verbal play and philosophical questions, and further complicated by the woman’s frequent unexplained disappearances.You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. is an intimate novel of memory and longing that challenges Western tropes and Orientalism. Embracing the playful surrealism of Haruki Murakami and the atmospheric narratives of filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, Sheung-King’s debut is at once lyrical and punctuated, and wholly unique, and marks the arrival of a bold new voice in Asian-Canadian literature.Praise for You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked.:Longlisted for CBC's Canada Reads 2021“One of the best book debuts of 2020” — The Globe and Mail“Sheung-King has written a wonderfully unexpected and maverick love story but also a novel of ideas that hopscotches between Toronto, Macau, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Prague. It is enchanting, funny, and a joy to read.”—Kyo Maclear, author of Birds Art Life“A tale of two rich and rootless people that oozes the horror and confusion of love, while staying somehow still desperately romantic, and so gloriously sad. This novel is also about something else: it gives the cold shoulder to the dominant gaze and its demands to control the Asian body, carving out a thrilling space beyond whiteness. I didn’t want it to end.” —Thea Lim, author of An Ocean of Minutes, a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize“In a cruel paradox for writers who are just trying to recount their lives, the tropes of diasporic lit have made it nearly impossible to write about belonging without also placing whiteness at the center of attention—the tropes exist because stories that do this are regularly rewarded with publication. But You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. sidesteps this trap all together: It is bored by Western approval.” — Thea Lim, The Nation.“He practically sets the page on fire." —Brett Josef Grubisic, Toronto Star

Marriage by Arrangement


Sophia Singh Sasson - 2020
    Which is a problem now that her newest client is irresistible hotelier Arjun Singh—aka the sexiest bachelor in India. A little fling with this gorgeous man would be scandal enough. But a fake engagement might just be more trouble than they bargained for—especially if Arjun has a prior arrangement!

Estuary


Perumal Murugan - 2020
    His teenage son is calling. What could he want?A seemingly simple demand torments Kumarasurar, who fears it might put his finances—and perhaps his son’s life—in jeopardy. As a father’s anxieties unravel, his memories undermine his self-worth and imaginary scenes of damnation taunt him.Estuary brings alive the different ways—absurd and endearing by turns—in which a man and his young son navigate the contemporary world. In the process, it peels back the layers of Kumarasurar’s loneliness: the hurt of a married man whose wife cares only for the happiness of their child, the endless monotony of an office job, and the struggle of the salaried middle-class to give their children the best chance of success.Perumal Murugan’s latest novel, his first in an urban setting, is also a razor-sharp parody of everything from e-commerce to the fitness industry, art appreciation to political manipulation, cram schools to social networks. Through a meditative exploration of a father’s emotional landscape, Murugan tells of a world wrecked by unchecked consumerism and an obsession with growth, where technology overrides common sense and degrees don’t guarantee education. And, with characteristic tenderness, he also weaves in a way to redemption.ABOUT THE AUTHORPERUMAL MURUGAN is the author of eleven novels, five collections of short stories and five anthologies of poetry in Tamil. Three of his novels translated into English—Poonachi: Or the Story of a Black Goat, Trial by Silence and A Lonely Harvest—were shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature in 2018 and 2019. His other novels translated into English include Seasons of the Palm, shortlisted for the Kiriyama Prize in 2005, Pyre, Current Show and One Part Woman. Murugan is now the principal at the Government Arts College in Namakkal.ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:NANDINI KRISHNAN lives in Madras with assorted four-legged and two-legged beings. She is the author of Hitched: The Modern Indian Woman and Arranged Marriage (2013) and Invisible Men: Inside India’s Transmasculine Networks (2018). This is her first translation from Tamil.

MOOM


Bani Basu - 2020
    But even after her death, Savitri remains in the house, invisible yet constantly audible. Gradually, the inmates begin to rely on Savitri’s voice to have their lives managed.One day, Savitri falls silent. Soon afterwards, Moom, a young girl of 11 or 12 mysteriously appears in Agarwal House. And her arrival reveals several secrets.

MONKEY: New Writing From Japan (Volume 1)


Motoyuki Shibata - 2020
    MONKEY publishes short fiction and poetry by writers such as Hideo Furukawa, Hiromi Ito, Mieko Kawakami, Sachiko Kishimoto, Hiromi Kawakami, Aoko Matsuda, and Yōko Ogawa; interviews and essays by writers such as Haruki Murakami; new translations of the work of earlier writers such as Okamoto Kanoko, Sōseki Natsume, and Naoya Shiga; and graphic stories by Satoshi Kitamura and collaborations between Japanese authors and North American graphic artists, such as “The Visitor,” with a graphic narrative by Jon Klassen and text by Yōko Ogawa.First formed under the name Monkey Business: New Writing from Japan, in collaboration with A Public Space, Monkey Business published 7 volumes from 2011 to 2017.Rebranded in 2020 as MONKEY New Writing from Japan, MONKEY is the English-language offspring of the Tokyo-based Japanese literary journal MONKEY, founded by Motoyuki Shibata, one of Japan’s most acclaimed translators of American fiction.Vol. 1 of the brand new MONKEY will be 152 pages of full color and printed at a larger trim size, allowing you to enjoy MONKEY like never before. The first issue features Food: A Monkey's Dozen, and includes translations into English of work from various issues of the Japanese MONKEY, as well as other works both old and new by writers, artists, and translators from Japan, England, Canada, and the U.S.

Dusk over the Mustard Fields


Ranjit Powar - 2020
    

Romance of the Imperial Capital Kotogami: A Tale of Living Alongside Spirits


Yamori Mitikusa - 2020
    Fans of a fantasy version of the Taisho Era and yokai romances are in for a real treat with this heartwarming romance!A retro-modern romantic fantasy set in the age of the Kotogami! After a fearsome beast burns down her company lodgings, Akari finds herself homeless and out of a job. Luckily, the handsome yokai who rescued her from the beast offers her a job as a live-in custodian at a manor in the city. Needing a safe place to sleep, Akari accepts Tomohito's offer but soon finds that living in a house full of eccentric Kotogami spirits isn't exactly the sweet deal she was hoping for. With no alternative, Akari resigns herself to cohabiting with her idiosyncratic new roommates. And so begins the heartwarming tale of the trials, new friendships, and blossoming romance of a hard working young woman, living in an age where the Kotogami spirits walk among humans.

TARO: Legendary Boy Hero of Japan


Blue Spruell - 2020
    Medallion Honoree. IAN Outstanding Action Adventure Book of the Year 2021. 1st Place Fiction CIPA Book Award 2021. Readers' Favorite Gold Medal Winner 2021.To save an empire from the ruthless warlord who killed his parents, a young samurai must summon the courage to face his past and seize his destiny.Award-winning author Blue Spruell reimagines classic Japanese folklore in an historical fantasy adventure of warlords, swords & mythical beasts from old Japan – an engaging tale for adults young and old – Banzai!Lost in the mists of Mount Fuji . . . but no one can escape destiny. . . .Accompanied by Tanuki, his shape-shifting badger sidekick, young Taro embarks on a quest of self-discovery and revenge, falls for Kamehime, the teenage samurai daughter of a powerful warlord, and ultimately becomes embroiled in the political struggle for the imperial throne. Along the way, Taro and his allies face fearsome yokai, the ghosts, goblins, and ghouls of Japanese folklore."A riveting tale of betrayal, honor, and revenge that instantly hooks you in and just refuses to let go." – READERS' FAVORITE, Five Stars Review“Engaging and fun samurai adventures with a captivating cast.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS“An exciting, magical coming-of-age adventure book that draws from Japanese folklore and history.” – BOOK LIFE BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY“Taro is an extraordinary coming-of-age saga and highly recommended especially for connoisseurs of ancient legends retold. Highly recommended!” – MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida


Clarissa Goenawan - 2020
    In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from?Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda who harbored unrequited feelings for Miwako, begs her best friend Chie to bring him to the remote village where she spent her final days. While they are away, his older sister, Fumi, who took Miwako on as an apprentice in her art studio, receives an unexpected guest at her apartment in Tokyo, distracting her from her fear that Miwako’s death may ruin what is left of her brother’s life.Expanding on the beautifully crafted world of Rainbirds, Clarissa Goenawan gradually pierces through a young woman’s careful façade, unmasking her most painful secrets.

Okamoto Kidō: Master of the Uncanny


Kidō Okamoto - 2020
    As a reporter he covered domestic development and overseas wars, while also marrying a traditional geisha, eventually becoming a playwright and author. In addition to a number of well-received plays, he also penned more than fifty horror stories over a roughly ten-year period starting in the mid-1920s. Just prior to this period, the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 destroyed almost everything in Tokyo that remained from the Edo era, and Japanese horror itself was transitioning from the traditional uncanny stories to more modern horror structures.While many of Kidō’s stories are retellings of tales from China and other nations, he also drew on a diverse range of traditions, including the heritage of Edo-era storytellers such as Ueda Akinari and Asai Ryōi, to produce a dazzling array of work covering the entire spectrum from time-honored ghost tropes to modern horror. The majority of his stories were collected in four volumes: Seiadō kidan (1926), Kindai iyō hen (1926), Iyō hen (1933), and Kaijū (1936).Kidō remains popular for his elegant, low-key style, subtly introducing the “other” into the background, and raising the specter of the uncanny indirectly and often indistinctly. His fiction spans an enormous range of material, much of it dealing with the uncanny, and as a pioneer in the field his work formed the foundation for the new generation of Japanese authors emerging in post-Restoration literature.This selection presents a dozen of his best stories: pieces which remain in print almost a century later, and continue to enchant readers—and writers—today. Finally, English-reading audiences can enjoy his strange visions as well.Contents The Kiso Traveler (木曽の旅人) The Green Frog God (青蛙神) Tone Crossing (利根の渡) The Monkey’s Eyes (猿の眼) The Snake Spirit (蛇精) The Clear-Water Well (清水の井) Crabs (蟹) The One-Legged Woman (一本足の女) Here Lies a Flute (笛塚) The Shadow-Stepping Game (影を踏まれた女) The White-Haired Demon (白髪鬼) The Man Cursed by an Eel (鰻に呪われた男)

The Night of Legends


Leslie W. - 2020
    Her captor: Atros, the organization she had joined as a trainee soldier since she was fourteen. Struggling to come to terms with the betrayal, Keix gets swept into the undercurrents of distrust and differing agendas between Atros and the Ifarls, a race with mysterious magical powers—as she tries to walk her own path.

The Girl Who Could Not Stop Laughing


Ganapathi Meera - 2020