サンショウウオの四十九日

Anzu and Shun, sisters nearing thirty, were born sharing one body, fused from skull to hips. Strangers see a single woman with an oddly uneven face, long on the left and round on the right; the sisters themselves feel each other right alongside. Their voices take turns from section to section as they travel with their parents to the ceremony held forty-nine days after an uncle's death, where his ashes are laid to rest. Memories of a high-school museum visit return, when a yin-yang emblem of a black and a white salamander, feeding on and completing each other, looked to them like a portrait. Ordinary days lead the two into questions without easy answers: who the other one is, and who is doing the thinking at any given moment.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

141 pages in the original

Genres

Family (assigned by AI)

First published

2024 by Shinchosha

Author's age

43 when first published

ISBN

9784103557319 (original)