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The Rental Sister

A Novel

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

hikikomori, n. h?kik?'mo?ri; literally pulling inward; refers to those who withdraw from society.

Inspired by the real-life Japanese social phenomenon called hikikomori and the professional “rental sisters” hired to help, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is about an erotic relationship between Thomas, an American hikikomori, and Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant hiding from her own past. The strange, insular world they create together in a New York City bedroom and with the tacit acknowledgment of Thomas’s wife reveals three human hearts in crisis, but leaves us with a profound faith in the human capacity to find beauty and meaning in life, even after great sorrow. Mirroring both East and West in its search for healing, Hikikomori and the Rental Sister pierces the emotional walls of grief and delves into the power of human connection to break through to the world waiting outside. 

Named an Indie Next pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, one of Book Riot’s 5 to Watch, and an iBooks Store Editor’s Choice in hardcover.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 10, 2012
      Hikikomori, Backhaus explains in his implausible debut, is the Japanese term for withdrawn, an experience apparently more common than Silke Tessler realizes when she goes looking for help for her husband, Thomas, who shut himself up in a room three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.

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2013

      In Japan, hikikomori refers to a disturbing social phenomenon in which troubled young men become recluses, hiding in their childhood bedrooms and avoiding contact with even their own families. Thomas Tessler is an American hikikomori. Thomas has a reason for his severe depression. His little son was hit by a car three years ago, and he feels responsible for the boy's death. Since then, the bereaved man has locked himself in a room in the Manhattan apartment he still shares with his wife, Silke. In desperation, Silke finds a "rental sister" named Megumi at a Japanese shop, hoping that she can help Thomas. (Families of Japanese hikikomori sometimes seek the help of specially trained young women to work with their troubled sons.) Megumi gradually forms a relationship with Thomas that is much more than sisterly. VERDICT This debut has a claustrophobic feel owing to its subject matter, but Backhaus provides a light at the end of the tunnel and some hope for his tormented characters.--Leslie Patterson, Brown Univ. Libs., MA

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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