Child of Fortune

Originally posted on 3/25/20.

Author: Yuko Tsushima.

Genre: Feminist fiction, psychological.

Year of Original Publication: 1978.

Page Number: 153.

First Line: "...Earth's primeval atmosphere was not yet, as it is now, 'homogenized.'"

Any Triggers? No, I don't think so.

Summary: At thirty-seven years old, Koko has not lived a life that follows the social norms of 1970s Japan. She's a divorcee raising her daughter alone in their tiny apartment, living off the tiny salary she makes as a part-time piano teacher. But her relationship with her eleven-year-old daughter Kayako has not been going well recently. Kayako has decided to live with and go to a private school paid by Koko's sister, who openly disapproves of Koko's parenting. Koko knows that her sister is turning her daughter against her, but all Kayako sees is that her Aunt's family has the normal lifestyle she wants. As if things couldn't get more complicated, Koko notices that she's showing signs of pregnancy after a casual fling with a friend of her ex-husband. Then the book starts.

My Thoughts: So as you know if you read my list of books I've read in 2019, I've been trying to write this review for a very long time. I had never heard of this book when I purchased it from a Singapore bookshop last year, being enticed by it's cover design and first line. You may recognize the author's name from the recently (and posthumously) published Territory of Light. But while that book is getting a lot of attention, Child of Fortune is somewhat obscure.

You're going to have to excuse me if this review rambles a bit. I loved Child of Fortune, but I've found it very hard to articulate why. While this book does have a plot that twists and turns in interesting ways, the plot really isn't the point of the book. It's more of a psychological character study. Most of the story takes place inside Koko's memories, thoughts, and dreams. It puts you inside the head of an intelligent but flawed and lonely woman.

Throughout the book I wrestled with whether or not I thought Koko was a good mother. At the end I decided that she was, or at least she had the capability to be one if she lived in a culture that supported single mothers. It's really easy to empathize with her position even though she's not perfect and doesn't always make the right choices. The book does a good job painting a picture of a culture that just cannot conceive of any reason why a woman would divorce her husband unless he was abusive. Koko is viewed as an irresponsible single mother by the rest of society, and the pressure to become "respectable" and just get married is constant. A lot of the shaming comes from Koko's sister Shoko, who I hated. She is constantly condescending to Koko. She inspired close to Dolores Umbridge levels of hate in me. She's a rigidly conservative woman who I'm sure believes that she's just trying to help, but is actually just trying to take control of the parenting because she views her sister as incompetent.

Koko's main character flaw is that she's aimless and complacent. She doesn't really know what she wants to do with her life, she keeps sleeping with men that have nothing to offer her, she's not great at setting boundaries with her sister, and she really needs some female friends. But she clearly loves her daughter despite the difficulties in their relationship. And she has such interesting, complex thoughts that I half wished that she took Kayako and moved to a writers commune in the woods or something. I also liked Kayako's character. She's not a complete brat nor is she unbearably twee. I found her to be a realistic child with realistic child concerns and opinions. She loves her mother but like a lot of kids in unconventional living situations she just wants things to be easier.

The reason why I said that this book is somewhat obscure is because it did get some clout as a work of feminist literature when it came out, winning the Women of Literature prize in Japan. But I have never seen it in an American bookstore. Unfortunately, I think this book is still relevant today as the cultural idea of single mothers being selfish and irresponsible has not completely died yet. At the very least I'm hoping someone famous like Emma Watson could make this part of their book club so it can get some attention here in the States.