赤い砂を蹴る

Chinatsu's mother Kyoko, a painter who brought her up alone outside marriage, has died of cancer before she could see the Japanese-Brazilian farm in São Paulo state where her close friend Meiko was raised. When Meiko, newly widowed, must go back to Brazil to apply for Japanese citizenship, Chinatsu goes with her. On the old farm, once run as a strict commune, Meiko talks about her husband Masanao, who drank and hit her to the last, and about his mother, who scorned her as a Brazilian of Japanese descent. Listening, Chinatsu turns to memories of Kyoko: a small half-brother's death, and a woman who never fitted what people expect of a mother. In loose, wandering talk that drifts among memory, the present day and vision, the two women mourn their dead.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

158 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Migration (assigned by AI)

Set in

Brazil

First published

2020 by Bungeishunju

Author's age

48 when first published

ISBN

9784163912363 (original)