HIKIKOMORI AND THE RENTAL SISTER: A NOVEL
Book ID/图书代码： 00342511B46797
English Summary/英文概要： Thomas Tessler, devastated by the death of his son, has locked himself in his bedroom and shut out the world. For three years, he has left his New York City apartment only occasionally, late at night, to pick up food at the grocery around the corner. This isolation is known in Japan as hikikomori. Desperate to salvage their life together, Thomas’s wife, Silke, hires a young Japanese woman to lure Thomas back into society. Megumi, who had worked in Tokyo as a “rental sister” (a job which can involve more than just familial comforts), has had her own personal experience with hikikomori. Having watched her brother suffer from the phenomenon, Megumi commits herself to connecting with Thomas in ways which lead to profound changes for herself, Thomas, and Silke. Original, erotic, and ultimately hopeful, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is a novel about the risks of intimacy and the power of human connection to guide us back to the beauty and meaning in life.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： Thomas Tessler因為無法走出喪子之痛而從此失去人生方向，甚至絕望到幾近崩潰。他把自己一個人鎖在臥室裡，拒絕與外界往來。三年來，他只有在深夜時才離開紐約的公寓，走到路邊的轉角雜貨店來填飽肚子。
Thomas過著這種自我封閉的生活，已經成為東方人口中所稱的「宅男 (日本人稱之為Hikikomori)」。
Thomas的妻子Silke為了拯救丈夫，於是她僱用一位日本女子惠美(Megumi)，請她試圖把Thomas從混沌度日的生活拉回到現實。惠美在東京專門從事「rental sister」拯救脫離現實的人，這工作不僅僅是以親情的撫慰，要用盡各種方法引誘人心。
曾經親眼目睹弟弟患有這種心理疾病的惠美，她把自己作為Thomas試驗的對象，在一場失意、情欲、孤獨和希望的種種糾葛中，這一段親密的危險三角關係該如何使他們找回人生的美麗和意義…
Awards/获奖情况：Publishers Weekly
Hikikomori, Backhaus explains in his implausible debut, is the Japanese term for withdrawn, an experience apparently more common than Silke Tessler realizes when she goes looking for help for her husband, Thomas, who shut himself up in a room three years earlier and has barely been outside of it since. Though the traditional ”rental sister” concept—evidently an antidote for a hikikomori—remains vague, in this novel it means that Silke hires a beautiful 22-year-old Japanese girl to bring Thomas back into the world. Lucky for him, oral sex and illicit nights together hiding from Silke work wonders with even the most reclusive. While the intellectual underpinning of the book could be said to pose interesting questions about guilt, love, and renewal, more often than not it reads like an adolescent fantasy in which Thomas, in order to save himself and his marriage, must subject himself to Megumi’s “immense” sexual appetite; what could be better than a wife-approved tryst with a publicly demure but privately voracious young woman who wants nothing in return? Blatant metaphors of winter, spring, and a spiritually cleansing trip to the hot springs don’t buoy the disagreeable proceedings. Agent: David Marshall, Marshall Rights. (Jan.)
“A mesmerizing debut at once sorrowful, intimate, and optimistic . . . Told in crisp and lyrical prose and a nontraditional narrative that shifts between first- and third-person, Backhaus’s novel is courageous and spare, an enthralling success.”—Booklist, starred review
Kirkus Reviews
A debut novel of grief and its porn-fantasy resolution. The hikikomori of the title is Thomas Tessler. He has lived locked in a room in his Manhattan apartment for three years, while his wife, Silke, goes on with her life next door in their former bedroom. Thomas leaves the apartment on rare occasions, at night, to stock up on supplies--TV dinners, canned food, coffee--while Silke sleeps. At her wit’s end, Silke finds a young Japanese woman, Megumi, the rental sister of the title, to lure Thomas out of his room. Thomas has locked himself in because he cannot get over the death of his son, for which he feels overwhelming guilt. What the patient and loving Silke cannot accomplish, Megumi pulls off in a matter of weeks. Megumi’s brother was also hikikomori in Japan, where apparently the phenomenon is more common, the hikikomori having a cultural identity or dignity unavailable in the States--and this qualifies her to visit the American stranger. As we learn more about Megumi--she sold her panties for shopping money and then her body to spirit her brother out of the country--one of the most egregious stereotypes emerges from this chrysalis: the hooker with a heart of gold. Of course Megumi falls for Thomas. He is the strong, silent type after all. Thomas’ lair turns out to be the perfect place to carry on an affair, and Silke seems to accept, if not welcome it--she contracted for it. A handful of taut moments explore the dramatic potential of this ménage à trois. A conflagration heralds a conclusion consistent with conventional expectations. Occasional moments of fine writing cannot salvage this unpromising debut.
About the Author/作者介绍： Jeff Backhaus曾經是廚師、藝術總監以及職業飛行員，過去在韓國生活和工作，現居紐約。
他的第一本小說呈現真實人生中意想不到的驚奇。
Jeff Backhaus has been a cook, an art director, and a professional pilot. He lived and worked in Korea and now lives in New York.
Format:电子手稿
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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