See Loss See Also Love - by Yukiko Tominaga

About the Book

"A tender, slyly comical, and shamelessly honest debut novel following a Japanese widow raising her son between worlds with the help of her Jewish mother-in-law, as she wrestles with grief, loss, and-strangest of all, joy. Shortly after her husband Levi's untimely death, Kyoko decides to raise their young son, Alex, in San Francisco, rather than return to Japan. Her nosy yet loving Jewish mother-in-law, Bubbe, encourages her to find new love and abandon frugality but her own mother wants Kyoko to celebrate her now husbandless life. Always beside her is Alex, who lives confidently, no matter the circumstance. Four sections of vignettes reflect Kyoko's fluctuating emotional states-sometimes ugly, other times funny, but always uniquely hers. While freshly mourning Levi, Kyoko and Alex confront another death-that of Alex's pet betta fish. Kyoko and Bubbe take a road trip to a psychic and discover that Kyoko carries bad karma. On visits back to Japan, Kyoko and her mother clash over how best to connect Alex with his Japanese heritage, and as Alex enters his teenage years and brings his first girlfriend home, Kyoko lets her imagination run wild as she worries about teen pregnancy. In this openhearted and surprising novel about the choices and relationships that sustain us, there are times where Kyoko is lonely but never alone and others in which she is alone but never lonely. Through these moments, she learns how much more there is to herself in the wake of total and unexpected upheaval."--

Book Synopsis

* A Martin Cruz Smith Award for Emerging Diverse Voices Finalist in the CALIBA 2024 Golden Poppy Book Awards * "This debut novel breaks all the rules...capturing loss in all its belligerent rage and raw humor." --Oprah Daily * "Full of heart." --PureWow *

A tender, wry, and shamelessly honest novel following a Japanese widow raising her son between worlds with the help of her Jewish mother-in-law as she wrestles with grief, loss, and--strangest of all--joy.

Shortly after her husband Levi's untimely death, Kyoko decides to raise their young son, Alex, in San Francisco, rather than return to Japan. Her nosy yet loving Jewish mother-in-law, Bubbe, encourages her to find new love and abandon frugality but her own mother wants Kyoko to celebrate her now husbandless life. Always beside her is Alex, who lives confidently, no matter the circumstance.

Four sections of vignettes reflect Kyoko's fluctuating emotional states--sometimes ugly, other times funny, but always uniquely hers. While freshly mourning Levi, Kyoko and Alex confront another death--that of Alex's pet fish. Kyoko and Bubbe take a road trip to a psychic and discover that Kyoko carries bad karma. On visits back to Japan, Kyoko and her mother clash over how best to connect Alex with his Japanese heritage, and as Alex enters his teenage years and brings his first girlfriend home, Kyoko lets her imagination run wild as she worries about teen pregnancy.

In this openhearted and surprising novel about the choices and relationships that sustain us, there are times where Kyoko is lonely but never alone and others in which she is alone but never lonely. Through these moments, she learns how much more there is to herself in the wake of total and unexpected upheaval. "A penetrating look at the complexities of grief, love, and joy" (Booklist) See: Loss. See Also: Love. is also a testament to the spiraling awareness of the vast range of human emotion we experience every day.

Review Quotes

Praise for See: Loss. See Also: Love.

"This debut novel breaks all the rules when it comes to grief writing, capturing loss in all its belligerent rage and raw humor... This is first and foremost a love story, but the love is not so much between the living wife and her dead husband as it is between all the people who flood in to fill the vacuum of her loss: a neighborhood turned stand-in father, a new lover, and--in fits and starts--a new self." --Oprah Daily

"This deeply felt and deceptively spare novel [balances] grief with humor and keen observations." --San Francisco Chronicle Datebook

"Full of heart." --PureWow

"[A] wry debut with refreshing honesty and piercing insights...Tominaga impresses with this distinctive slice of life." --Publisher's Weekly

"A penetrating look at the complexities of grief, love, and joy." --Booklist

"An introspective frankness flavors much of this debut... Put together, the scenes, musings, and snapshots evoke a woman struggling with identity and connection in a manner variously arbitrary, quirky, and insightful." --Kirkus

"Yukiko Tominaga has written a book aglitter with hard-won truths. It is courageous about human fragility and devoted to human vigor, as funny as it is shattering." --Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning

"Yukiko Tominaga's See: Loss. See Also: Love. is a miracle and a dream--tightly crafted, full of heart, warmth, honesty, and compassion. Tominaga's prose encompasses the entire world, expansive and expertly executed. See: Loss. See Also: Love. is deeply, deeply vibrant and surprising; giving us loss, yes, but also so much love, to the fullest extent, and in so many forms. Tominaga is a wonder and I loved this book." --Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal and Memorial

"Tominaga weaves an enchanting spell and captivates readers with her refractive and translucent prose. Her debut novel constantly surprises and subverts expectations. Through exquisitely crafted chapters, the intricate dynamics of a family come into sharp focus, revealing both their profound love and the depths of their grief. These pages are imbued with a wealth of wisdom, exploring the languages of love and family, while also delving into the nuances of language itself. Tominaga has secured a lifelong fan in me." --Weike Wang, author of Joan Is Okay and Chemistry

"A skilled collage of carrying on and finding oneself after catastrophe. Through unabashedly honest prose, unforgettable characters, and an exploration into the stories we choose to tell, Tominaga establishes herself as an essential new voice." --Ethan Joella, author of The Same Bright Stars and A Quiet Life

"Modulating warm, lucid, and subtle prose, Tominaga deftly holds the tension between exploring the complicated realities of grief and the possibilities that come from still being alive after loss. The story nimbly moves forward with the qualities of an emotional mystery, while sly humor and radiant prose shed light on grasshoppers, mothers and sons, surfing, and sex. Tominaga ultimately crafts a novel about the intimacy of a family, skillfully taking readers from Boston to San Francisco to Japan and back again treating readers to an exquisite and poignant novel." --Marie Mutsuki Mockett, author of The Tree Doctor and American Harvest

"In our present world of immigration and unpredictability, where the bridge from here to there can be suddenly sundered, Yukiko Tominaga's debut novel draws us close with frank intimacy. Survival is an act of translation in See: Loss. See Also: Love., the navigation between loss and love, self and other, guilt and freedom requiring nothing less than bold honesty. Here is a novel of defiance, casting light into the perilous gulf between life and the stories we tell ourselves." --Asako Serizawa, author of Inheritors

"Some books you know you'll be carrying around as long as you're able to carry books around. This is one of them. See: Loss. See Also: Love. lives up to its title, and is as masterfully told as it is emotionally potent. And not a single word wasted." --Peter Orner, author of Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin and Maggie Brown & Others

"Yukiko Tominaga's wonderful novel See: Loss. See Also: Love. is a song to savor and enjoy. Her words are chiseled and make us know that despite hardships love endures--this tender story tells us all we need to know about narrative as "human time" (Paul Ricoeur), our way of saying we exist. The tone is reminiscent of a piano bar at which singers renew sentimental favorites. The indelible and sometimes difficult facts of life are lovingly recreated by this brave writer." --Maxine Chernoff, author of Some of Her Friends That Year and American Heaven

About the Author

Yukiko Tominaga was born and raised in Japan. She was a finalist for the 2020 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, selected by Roxane Gay. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Chicago Quarterly Review, and The Bellingham Review, among other publications. She also works at Counterpoint Press where she helps to introduce never-before-translated books from Japan to English language readers. See: Loss. See Also: Love. is her first book.