Thanks to HarperVia and NetGalley for this ARC. It’s a collection of short stories that focus on working women in Japan. One woman is piecing her life back together after losing her work and marriage. Another is pressured into re-entering the workforce after a battle with breast cancer. This is a great and relatable set of stories that should be considered a part of the feminist literary canon.

The Dilemmas of Working Women is a quietly haunting collection of five stories by Fumio Yamamoto, newly translated in 2025. Each piece explores characters on the fringes of normalcy, with sharp observations and pitch-perfect endings. The first story stood out most for its winner-loser dynamic, while others varied in impact. Though not all focus directly on employment, each reflects the weight of work and identity. Subtle, strange, and worth reading.

This is my bread and butter, the overworked literary fiction woman protagonist. I was able to relate a lot to the content that was within these pages, and it just made it that much more enjoyable to me.

Fumio Yamamoto presents a sharp, thoughtful, and at times painful exploration of what it means to be a woman navigating modern career landscapes. Through a collection of stories or a deeply personal narrative (depending on the structure), this book illuminates the internal and external conflicts professional women face across cultures. It’s a must-read for those interested in feminist literature, workplace dynamics, and social commentary.

(3.75/5, rounded up)

I was excited to see how much humor would be incorporated into this collection, as that's one of the things that draws me to Japanese lit most & this is my first from Yamamoto. It wasn't quiet as humorous as I'd like, but for good reason—this collection means business.
It became clear to me after the 2nd story that this wasn't just here to entertain, and if you're looking for a collection you can compartmentalize, this isn't it. Yamamoto brings you to question the sort of situations and dynamics women constantly encounter and have to then navigate for themselves.

As a stay at home mom, I'm hyperaware of how my day-to-day is perceived. I know it sounds like a great gig (it is, don't get me wrong), but it's friggin hard. Arguably harder than most 9-5's.
As a woman, I know we get sized up even when dressed down.
As someone who spent 6 years worth of time & money in college, working toward a piece of paper I'd end up leaving without, I know how easily a degree is conflated with a sense of purpose.

Truthfully, these weren't the most enthralling stories IMO. They're less flashy than I like, less jarring. But for fans of the quieter pieces, like Strange Weather in Tokyo (not that it's a perf comparison, I just don't have much else to work off of haha)

I enjoyed this collection and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the way Japanese lit dissects the workforce, gender roles and the mix of the two.

Thank you bunches to HarperVia, Fumio Yamamoto, Brian Bergstrom and NetGalley for the DRC & gifted physical ARC <3

This is for the lovers of short stories and one that focus on the “dilemmas of the working girl”; a problem that is quite prevalent and relatable. Yamamoto is very good at getting into the character archetypes and one really gets to understand the characters. Some of the stories hit more than others, but overall it’s a well-done translated piece .

This translation was a 50/50 mix for me. I enjoyed being Submerged into such a different culture and country than my own. But some of the stories I found less engaging than others

I really wanted to love this book. The cover and the synopsis drew me in, and the writing itself was really good.

Unfortunately, the characters killed this for me. Not only are they so unlikeable, they also lack agency and most of them don't change very much at all from the beginning to the end of the story. The heroines have superficial differences, but their narrative voices feel very similar, which made the sameness of everything feel like it was dragging on and on. For a collection that is really about Japanese women, imagine my surprise when the last story--the only story in the collection with a male narrator--was the one story that involved a true, tender relationship (between him and his daughter), pretty much making him the only halfway likeable character here.

In the note from the translator, he says this collection captures the "work- and home-related anxiety gripping the nation at the time." I was excited to take a deep dive into the relationship between women and work. Instead, the characters just seem generally depressed. They are rude, thoughtless, often self-centered and spineless, with very little to make them sympathetic or redeemable.

I'd recommend this to people dipping their toes into translated Japanese fiction, as it's well written and seems well translated. Ultimately, I wish the author had dug even deeper into these characters and themes.

3.5 stars - "The Dilemmas of Working Women" is an interesting collection of stories: diverse yet unified in their unpredictability--the tone could shift or major reveals dropped with just a word or phrase--and depiction of flawed, imperfect and fully human women living in a capitalistic and patriarchal society. It reminds me a bit of Lucia Berlin's A Manual for Cleaning Women, similarly electically unpreidctable yet unique. Some of the stories stand out more than others, but overall Yamamoto's collection is a breath of fresh air.

This was a slow (and sometimes boring) read, but I think it was saying something important.
Sometimes the power is in running away. Running away from societal expectations and norms, running away from your job that makes you unhappy, running away from the relationship that has become toxic, even running away from the versions of you you dislike.

It definitely could have made more of an impact especially with the length of each story, but it was a good read.


Naked 3/5
This was a good story, even though not much happened in it. I think it had a lot to say around class, money, status, marriage, friendship, health and motherhood.

Planarian 3.5/5
This could have used a bit more depth but I liked the exploration of how illness can affect your sense of worth and identity as a person.

Here, Which Is Nowhere 3/5
Honestly both those kids needed a lesson in respect.

The Dilemmas of Working Women 2/5
Meh. I didn’t really like anyone in this. Also found it irritating that she kept dragging out the conversation instead of just saying no to marriage.

A Tomorrow Full of Love 3/5
The father daughter relationship was actually my favourite part of this story. I wish we got more of it.

Originally published 25 years ago in Japan where it won multiple awards, Dilemmas is a collection of five stories that center around women in difficult situations. Four are told from the perspective of women who are at a crossroads in life and need to make changes or accept a life that isn't what they originally hoped for. Women coming out of divorce, in dead end jobs and all looking to break away from the traditional definition of what it means to be a good productive Japanese woman.

The characters are well developed and the themes feel current, the lack of ubiquitous technology is the only signifier that these aren't contemporaneity stories.

Enjoy isn't quite the right word for this collection. There are too many layers of discomfort to say I enjoyed reading it, but I was moved, and at times I felt seen. Yamamoto does not shy away from the complicated and unsightly moments in a woman's experience. In the translator's note at the end, he speaks to the importance of this work, and I agree. There is a raw realness to the work that is sometimes lacking in much of the fiction about women.

This was a collection of 5 stories of women living in Japan. These women aren't given the credit nor compassion that they are due, and it details their struggles with work and family responsibilities. I never found myself to be particularly engaged in these stories, but I did appreciate the underlying message.

I enjoyed this book. I was especially drawn to the stories of working women in Japan and how their experiences dealing with work politics, family expectations, and the never-ending domestic workload, felt so relatable, no matter where you’re from. The way patriarchy showed up in each story almost made it feel like its own character, which was both powerful and frustrating to read.

I also loved the cultural touches, mentions of manga cafés, love hotels, and other uniquely Japanese details added a lot of color to the stories. My only wish is that we got to see more of the women in their actual workplaces. The focus leaned more toward their personal lives, and I was curious to see more of their professional worlds.

Big thanks to HarperVia for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

These thought-provoking short stories give a peek into the lives of women who are constantly being pressured by society, their jobs, and their families. A beautiful depiction of everyday struggles. I couldn't put this book down.

4 out of 5 stars – Witty, Wry, and Unapologetically Sharp

Fumio Yamamoto’s The Dilemmas of Working Women is a bold, acerbic, and refreshingly honest exploration of womanhood and work in contemporary Japan. Through five short stories, Yamamoto paints intimate portraits of women who reject—or at least question—the conventional metrics of success. These characters are not trying to be likable, and that’s exactly what makes them so compelling.

The standout story for me was “Naked,” where a woman finds an odd serenity in the solitude of crafting stuffed animals after the collapse of her marriage and business. Rather than clawing back toward capitalist validation, she embraces ambiguity, challenging the assumption that productivity equals purpose. “Planarian” is another striking entry, using a post-cancer perspective to deftly confront body image, identity, and existential exhaustion with a mix of humor and melancholy.

Each narrative is laced with a feminist defiance that feels both deeply personal and politically sharp. The writing—deftly translated by Brian Bergstrom—is clean and direct, preserving the deadpan wit and underlying ache of Yamamoto’s voice.

Why four stars instead of five? A couple of the stories felt less focused or slightly uneven in their pacing, and while the anti-capitalist themes are powerful, at times they risked becoming repetitive. That said, these are minor quibbles in an otherwise excellent collection.

This is not a book of grand resolutions or tidy empowerment arcs. Instead, it’s about the quiet, messy rebellions of women living lives that don’t fit neatly into societal molds. The Dilemmas of Working Women is timely, subversive, and deeply human—a must-read for those who appreciate literature that challenges norms with both intellect and irreverence.

I felt this was a relatable book, despite being written from a different culture. When I picked this up I didn't realize it was an English translation of a work that was published in the early 2000s. Once I realized that, some of the stories made a little more sense. It isn't dated perse, but the current phone obsession was absent. Each of the short stories features someone going through something. Some hit better for me, but I think that is going to vary by your own life experiences. This isn't a warm and fuzzy book, but it is one where I felt the author clearly gets the plight of the modern woman and of being functional while living through depression. It took me awhile to get through, but since it is several stories, I wasn't forgetting the story and having to reread.

4.25

This collection was so beautiful and incredibly sad. I loved every story, and the characters’ issues were layered and thought-provoking. I especially liked the first two stories (“Naked” and “Planarian”), but there wasn’t one dud in the bunch, and I will absolutely seek out more of her work. I’m shocked it took 25 years for an English translation to come out. Speaking of that, this is where the book loses points for me: the translation felt very stiff and often strange, and I’ve read enough translated texts to feel like they could have chosen a better translator. It was a man, so that also seemed an odd choice.

This collection of short stories was originally published in Japan in 2000, showing the lives of women that were considered "difficult." The stories follow a woman who has lost her job, a woman recovering from breast cancer, a mother struggling to keep track of her children and herself, and more.

While these stories were originally published in 2000, much of the same feelings still ring true for women today. I found myself surprised I was able to relate so closely to women in another country from 25 years ago. These stories reminded me that you are in control of what you choose to do, no one else.

This is a collection of short stories about Japanese women. To be honest, it wasn’t for me. These women’s lives were mundane. There wasn’t very much interesting about them or their lives. Japanese literature is just not for me.

This collection of short stories was refreshingly unwholesome. All but one of the stories is from the perspective of a woman living in modern day Japan. The last story focuses on a woman but it’s from a man’s point of view.

Each woman feels very human. Making mistakes, being dramatic and messy. Reading this was very entertaining!

Every story was so good I wanted them to keep going but it was a good choice to end them without real resolution. Many of the characters issues are going to take several hundred more pages to solve. Maybe some therapy too…