The Thorn Puller - by Hiromi Ito (Paperback)

About the Book

Introducing Hiromi Ito, an award-winning Japanese author who has been compared to Haruki Murakami and Yoko Tawada.

Book Synopsis

Introducing Hiromi Ito, an award-winning Japanese author who has been compared to Haruki Murakami and Yoko Tawada.

Review Quotes

"The Thorn Puller is a masterpiece... a novel about some of literature's greatest themes-love, human connection, death, and the meaning of suffering."

--Allison Fincher, Asian Review of Books

"A brilliantly poetic translation . . . explored with biting humor and sharp wit."

--Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

"In Ito's literary vision, life unfolds more as a stream of language than a series of plot points. With each phase of life she records, Ito shows how language emerges from the rituals of social reproduction that mark the coming and going of generations, from childbirth to eldercare. "

--Eva Rosenfield, Chicago Review

"A strong affirmation of life. Working collaboratively with the author, Jeffrey Angles, a recognized poet in both English and Japanese, has done a wonderful job translating this work. Ito is a poet of some renown... "Sometimes I dare to imagine I'm an independent woman," says the narrator. Despite all the forces clamoring for her attention, she is, and that is both the strength and appeal of this novel."

--Erik R. Lofgren, World Literature Today

"Overflowing and contradictory, worn down with fatigue, yet brimming with energy, The Thorn Puller combines a confessional story of a woman dealing with family commitments in two countries with vibrant excursions into Japanese folklore and history."

--Richard Medhurst, Nippon.com

"With ruthless honesty and wicked humor, Ito exposes the frustration and inconvenience of being a caregiver, juxtaposing it with the sorrow of watching a loved one deteriorate."

--Foreword Reviews, starred review

"Poet Ito makes her English-language fiction debut with a lyrical account of a woman caught between two cultures and her family's demands ... Fans of Japanese literature will enjoy this impressionistic project."

--Publishers Weekly

"Ito's chameleonic prose confronts mortality, cultural conflicts, religious comforts, and waning relationships, embellished with all manner of welcoming, unfiltered, surprisingly humorous honesty about the universally quotidian, from pimple-popping to good sex."

--Terry Hong, Booklist

"The Thorn Puller is a beautiful work, sad and soothing all at once. It is a brave work, as Hiromi Ito shares so much of her life with readers. It carries readers into a mystical world of Japanese folklore, classical literature, and myth. At the same time, it is remarkably contemporary, reminding us all of our own frailties and strengths."

--Rebecca Copeland, Kyoto Journal

"A glorious, immersive read, packed with laugh-out-loud moments and the kind of reflections that anyone who has married across cultures will recognize."

--Iain Maloney, Metropolis

"Absurdly comedic and heartbreaking... The Thorn Puller is an enjoyable and affecting narrative about the meaning of living and aging in our globalized era."

--Bonnie Nadzam, Lion's Roar

"With frank, humorous prose that sinuously morphs into the musical cadence of poetry, The Thorn Puller tackles subjects like aging, death, and suffering from a transnational perspective that also illuminates the bittersweet joy of being alive."

--Alyssa Pearl Fusek, Unseen Japan

"With a great deal of arresting material, The Thorn Puller is a fascinating piece of work."

--M.A.Orthofer, The Complete Review

"The Thorn Puller is a benchmark book. Some reviews compare Hiromi Ito to Har

About the Author

HIROMI ITO came to national attention in Japan in the 1980s for her groundbreaking poetry about pregnancy, childbirth, and female sexuality. After relocating to the U.S. in the 1990s, she began to write about the immigrant experience and biculturalism. In recent years, she has focused on the ways that dying and death shape human experience. English translations include Killing Kanoko and Wild Grass on the Riverbank.

JEFFREY ANGLES is a writer and professor of Japanese at Western Michigan University. He is the first non-native poet writing in Japanese to win the Yomiuri Prize for Literature, a highly coveted prize for poetry. His translation of the modernist classic The Book of the Dead by Shinobu Orikuchi won both the Miyoshi Award and the Scaglione Prize for translation.