I loved this one! The short stories were excellent, the way they connected fascinated me, and I enjoyed the audio narration. The focus on folklore, pop culture, and feminist ideology made for interesting and entertaining reading. I was also incredibly grateful to have access to the ebook from Netgalley as that allowed me to read the end notes after each story and to see the spelling of names and places. Highly recommend!

Full review here: https://thefeministbibliothecary.wordpress.com/2024/07/27/book-review-where-the-wild-ladies-are-by-aoko-matsuda-translated-by-polly-barton/

I absolutely loved this, vivid story telling, and perfectly crafted there isn't a bad story in this whole collection.

It's sharp and witty, and I've recommended it to several friends over and over again.

I loved this from start to finish.

I wish the original myths were put before the story, not after to have some anchor point. Also, not everything was based on Japanese mythology, so it was hard to navigate if that's a real column or a myth-based story

What a cool book! It's awesome to read translations and see things from other cultures perspectives and this book was no exception!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

I had very high hopes for this story collection, but, unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. Ironically, I found many of the stories to be overly quotidian and thus rather boring. I'm not sure if the issue partly lies in the translation or not, but I just couldn't get immersed in any of the narratives.

Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda surprised me in the best way possible. I haven't read much Japanese literature, but this has me wanting to read more. These are loosely interconnected feminist ghost stories. Need I say more?

I really wish more American readers would give Japanese fiction a try, as I always leave the pages with a new perspective.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Where the Wild Ladies Are is a delightful riff by author Aoko Matsuda on traditional Japanese folk tales and superstitions. Bringing such age-old beliefs and lore into the present day, Matsuda presents spirits living amongst humans as quirky, motivated, and mostly well-intentioned. The glossary of tales that inspired Matsuda's collection shows that the author's stories are not merely retellings, but rather inspired takes. Matsuda skillfully weaves characters and stories together through the volume, contributing to a cohesive and engaging read.

I kind of have a thing for Japanese fiction, so was excited to read this new collection of short stories from Aoko Matsuda. Where the Wild Ladies Are is a collection inspired by Japanese fairy tales and folklore, but with a definite feminist twist. A large portion of the stories feature ghosts or bizarre events but they are all oh so subtle. These are spooky ghost stories, they are understated and just take the ghosts as an every day occurrence. The women in these stories challenge the cultural gender norms. A number of the stories have a common thread of a theme or a character between them.

I took a slower approach to this book and read a story here or there over the course of a week and a half. As with many short story collections, some of the stories resonated with me more than others, but overall it is a very strong collection that I highly recommend.

If there is one thing you should know about me as a reader it's that I am always up for a fairytale or mythological retelling. So, when I saw this book being promoted as a "collection of feminist retellings of traditional Japanese folktales", I knew that I had to read and review this title. Where the Wild Ladies Are is made up of several short stories that eventually interweave with each other as you get further along in the book. It was pretty clever of Matsuda, the author, to make all of the stories set in the same world and it definitely added positively to the reading experience. My one complaint about this story was that the original folktale summaries were all at the end of the book. I wish that I had either known this so I could flip back and forth after reading each story or that they had come directly after the retelling. As someone who is not familiar with Japanese folktales, I didn't really understand where each story came from until I stumbled upon the summaries at the end. Overall, I would recommend this title. It is important to read books set in countries that you do not live in as it expands your knowledge of other cultures.

Thank you to Soft Skull Press and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

WOW. I can truly say that this was one of my favorite reads so far this year. Wildly inventive, fresh and darkly humorous, Aoko Matsuda's "Where the Wild Ladies Are" is an unexpected delight. Matsuda's modern, intelligent and quirky retelling traditional Japanese ghost stories had me hooked from the first page. From hapless employees to reluctant calligraphers and grumpy cats, this book truly encompasses everything. What I loved the most was the way each story seamlessly blended into the next with recurring characters, themes and overlapping narratives. "Where the Wild Ladies Are" is an effortless, timeless classic.

Wow these stories were so good. Honestly I wish the stories with Mr Tei's company had their own series of full length novels, would love to read more about all of those characters.

I went into this unfamiliar with many of these tales or folklore, and I greatly appreciated the primer in the appendix which condensed each of the tales so the reader is able to compare the original to the reimagined plots.

Aoko Matsuda's WHERE THE WILD LADIES ARE brings ghosts to lusty, robust life, but not in a scary, "I'm out to get you" kind of vengeful ghost focused on the living, but ghosts living their own three-dimensional, self-focused lives. The stories are the oft-told myths and fairy tales, the basis for performance and other arts in Japan -- but made contemporary, palpable, and delightful -- the prose is masterful art, so well-crafted that I plunged right into the stories and didn't want them to end.

Aoko Matsuda took traditional Japanese ghost folk stories and modernized them in a brilliant, interwoven feminist collection. I absolutely loved reading these stories of ghosts and shape shifters.

The supernatural elements made sense and weren’t forced, which is the sign of a masterful storyteller. I also enjoyed the quirkiness of many of the stories. These are not gory or scary, but very human, exploring how humans get along, deal with hardship, survive, and grow.

Each story could have stood on it’s own, but was made richer for being in the collection, where, at times, the reader knew things that the characters didn’t.

This was a fantastic read and a wonderful glimpse into Japanese folklore.

I had zero experience with Japanese folklore prior to this so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm easily frightened so eerie-haunting type stuff is a no go for me, but the description really intrigued me. I'm so glad I gave it a try. It's clever, witty, and very different from anything I could have imagined. ⁠
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A feminist retelling of traditional Japanese folktales where humans and ghosts live and work (ghosts with jobs!) side by side. In this collection of linked short stories, the spirits are not there for untoward reasons. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Some of them are there to support (provide babysitting services), encourage (teaching the importance of self-love), and inspire the humans they visit. ⁠
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This is the second translated book I read this year and I intend to read more translated stories. I think some of these works capture and disseminate culture in a, particularly distinct fashion. There is an "Inspiration for the Stories" section at the end which serves as a reference list of the original stories. I appreciated this portion because it gave me the opportunity to learn about the original stories and understand what made these retellings feminist in nature. ⁠

A masterful collection of classic Japanese ghost stories and folktales retold with contemporary approaches to gender roles, the female body, and general gender expectations vs. realities. The titular story was probably my favorite, but there really isn't a bad story in the entire collection. Quiet, unsettling at times, ghostly and ethereal, while also witty and sharp, these stories are perfect. Being less than familiar with the classic Japanese stories, I also greatly appreciated the summaries of classics in the last chapters, which really brought the stories into sharper contrast.

Some stories focus on the physical aesthetic and pressures felt by women - beautiful long hair on the head, but no where else, the societal restrictions placed on women - the ticking clocks and landmarks by which life can be marked as progressing, and some stories re-envision well know (in Japan at least, I assume) ghosts and ghost stories from a modern perspective. (I really adored the idea of a company that employs the supernatural, both living and dead, that was scattered throughout a few of these stories. I would <i>love</i> an entire book dedicated to this company - It is not lost on me that the existence of a company for the employment of ghosts after death is a tongue in cheek commentary on the occupational pressures of Japan that is becoming more common in modern works of Japanese literature.)

We also get to meet a few creatures who aren't ghosts, but also prevalent in Japanese folklore; a giant toad who stares down would-be harrasers as female students traverse the city, and even a fox-lady and her boring life as a human.

What's really great about these stories, imo, is how Aoko Matsuda doesn't re-write the characters or their stories. Rather, she extends them. She continues their stories and gives them new life, new meaning, new purpose, in such a way that the reader finds subliminal messages of hope for the hereafter. Even in life (we don't have to wait until death, but if we do then ok), we can shed our forced conceptions of self and rout and be whatever it is that we are afraid to be. Even as older women, or after broken hearts, second husbands, after the children grow up and move on - at any time - it is possible to still <i>be</i>.

Would recommend to fans of contemporary Japanese writers who have been published in English, Asian folklore, ghosts, feminist writings and retellings, or just about anyone who enjoys short stories or translated fiction.

A very hearty thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this gem via Netgalley.

WHERE THE WILD LADIES ARE by Aoko Matsuda and translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton is a stellar collection of Japanese ghost stories! All of the stories are delightfully macabre with these really stand out touches of whimsy. I loved how there were intertwining elements to several of the stories and the strong theme of feminism. My fave stories were The Jealous Type and A Fox’s Life. I especially appreciated the section at the end that explained all of the traditional stories that these stories are based on. This is the perfect book to read during October!

In one of the stories in Aoko Matsuda’s collection, Where the Wild Things Are (smoothly translated by Polly Barton), a character reads Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. This classic children’s story captures the character’s imagination but, in the end, the character is shocked when the creatures start to chant their love and desire to eat the protagonist at the same time. Although this isn’t the first story in the collection, this moment helped me realize one of the major themes in these linked stories. Matsuda’s stories show us characters who find happiness and purpose in letting go of social constraints. Wild things need to be wild, this collection tells us, even if they’re not sure they’re wild yet

A narrative starts to appear after the first few stories in Where the Wild Ladies Are. Character names start to reappear. Soon, we see Mr. Tei recruiting for a company that no one can remember the name of. This company—which we later learn is staffed by living and dead employees—seems to be the latest incarnation of a whole host of Japanese folk lore and myths. One department hires out Child-Rearing Ghosts. Another manufactures incense that has extraordinary powers. Thankfully, Matsuda included a series of notes at the end of the book that has brief summaries of all the stories and texts that are referenced in the stories. It was nice to know the backstories of all the supernatural characters and ghosts that show up in Where the Wild Ladies Are.

At first, I wasn’t sure about Where the Wild Ladies Are. The first story was a little long. Others in the collection I read with my eyebrows all the way up—especially the story about the woman who has so much jealousy that she buys cheap and/or easily repairable things that she can throw at her husband or destroy during her regular rages. It was strange to read an entire series of stories all about letting go of restraint to embrace their wilder emotions. So much of the literature I read features characters learning to stifle their passions, to “grow up.” I enjoyed seeing character go the other way for a change.

Linked short stories are my favorite type of short stories. Novels will probably always be my favorite kind of narrative, but I appreciate how varied linked short stories can be. The focus doesn’t have to stay on a small group of characters. Instead, we can see how characters’ own arcs brush up against others’. Also, as a frequent mystery reader, I really love watching for clues about the overarching narrative. It’s like a bonus story on top of all the other ones. Where the Wild Ladies Are is a terrific example of the genre.

A collection of whimsical and witty, loosely connected short stories based on traditional Japanese folklore.

When I decided to read Where the Wild Ladies Are, I was really excited about reading work based on Japanese ghost stories. I had always heard about the stories, but never read any. However, I was somewhat disappointed. The writing in itself wasn't bad. And some of the short stories, were bland. Also, I think if I had known that all of the stories were connected in some way, I would have paid more attention to detail, so I could more easily follow the "bigger" story line. It would have also helped me understand why some of the stories seemed to have no plot or no purpose. I felt that I forced myself to finish reading the book and by the end of it, I was started to just skim it. I know this sounds like it was a horrible book. It was not. But it was just average and I don't think it did justice in introducing others to the delightful Japanese ghost stories that I have often heard about.