A Territory of Light was short, sweet, and raw. A story of a woman in Tokyo making it on her own with her 3 year old daughter after separating from her husband. This story made me laugh, cry, and feel frustrated at times with the societal insistence that a divorce would be the worst thing the nameless mother could do with her life. I loved the way the author didn’t sugarcoat anything about the aspect of motherhood. Her thoughts, her fears, her doubts about going at it alone. The author’s writing style was beautiful which hooked me from the very beginning. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

Following the separation from her husband, a woman and her daughter learn how to live without him. We are witness to the confusion, grief, and transition to life on their own. At times the writing is beautiful, at others it becomes hard to follow.

This book is about a single mother who is trying to deal with divorce while dealing with her baby. I didn’t like the main character because she does not seem to care for her daughter as she should. It was an interesting book but I didn’t like the flow. The book is weird to me.
ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yuko Tsushima was an award winning author in Japan, who following her death in 2016 is experiencing a resurgence of popularity in translation. Territory of Light, written in 1979 when she was in her early 30's, is composed of a series comprising a novel which was published chapter by chapter over the course of a year. Each month she followed her unnamed narrator as she traversed the transition between marriage and single motherhood, forging an identity and living with her (also unnamed) 3-year-old daughter. Unsentimental and uncompromising, it is a short book, but worth it. As she herself was a single mother, it may or may not have been written from personal experience. (less)

This was an interesting read and the author's writing was emotional and honest. I found the ending a bit abrupt.

I really REALLY wanted to like this one, but I couldn’t. I found the main character so awful that this story (which is pretty short) just went on and on and onnnnnn annnndddd onnnnn.

Nothing remarkable really stood out for me. Sorry, friends.

I would, however, love to hear from my high school/adult learners what they would take away from this one. Although not personally stimulating, I have a feeling that a younger crowd would really dive into this and absolutely love it.

“I wasn’t sure which was real, which a dream.”

This book is about a single mother of a toddler dealing with the stress of a divorce. I’d describe it as a bit eerie. Dream-like. The main character is not very likeable and it’s difficult to sympathize with her when she does not care for her daughter as she should.

The format of the book was also difficult. This version was not separated into chapters and each story line runs into the next without resolving anything. The author would frequently describe dreams and then jump back into reality without any transition, making the reader wonder if this was really happening or still part of the dream. I’m assuming this was on purpose because this quote from the book sums it up pretty well. But made for a confusing reading experience.

It is set in Tokyo and I enjoyed seeing some familiar things from my trip there. Traveling on the train and counting the stations that go by, or going up to the twelfth floor of a department store for a nice restaurant. A lost woman asks for directions and a character walks her several minutes out of their way to ensure she reaches her destination. It felt like Tokyo.
I’d give this book a 3/5. Thank you to @netgalley for the copy in exchange for a review.

I ended up having to shelve “Territory of Light” after several chapters. The story follows a young mother and her infant daughter after the mother separates from her husband. The scenes take place in a small, cramped Tokyo apartment where everyone hears everything, and she has bad pipes. While the writing is lovely, I could not get into the story nor did I think it was moving at a “good” pace. It felt slow-moving.

I almost wanted to click on the "I will not give feedback for this title' button for this book.
Because I don't really know where to start!

It's not that I think it's bad, or that it's poorly written, but for me, personally, I don't really know how I feel about it.
It's like I read a dream, a thick, heat of summer dream, where everything seems to be covered with gauze light and you can practically taste the air.
And that's impressive, for a book to evoke. But I didn't feel connected, invested to the characters or the story, just like a dream, where everything feels one step removed from reality.

I think the author excels at writing a short slice of life and all the myriad things that happen and how we feel during it, but would I read it again? No. I think perhaps this style is just not for me.
Three stars, not because I hated it, but because like a dream, it's fading from my tenuous grasp.