What's Left of Me is Yours - Stephanie Scott

Description

A gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.

In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.

When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that - until he does it too well.

While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko's life.

Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What's Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.

Review

This is such a beautifully written novel. I am not one for flowery or descriptive writing, but this novel does not waste one word, they are all needed. I was savouring each and every one of them until the story took hold of me, and I found myself reading faster and faster, to know what the outcome would be.

I love books set in Japan and in particular Tokyo, so this was a winner for me from the start. It also introduced me to several new facts about Japan I didn't know such as the subject of the novel the "wakaresaseya" and the Japanese legal system. I found all of this so fascinating and an added bonus to the story.

The story is told in the present day by Sumiko and also retrospectively by her Mother Rina and the wakaresaseya Kaitaro. The book glides between the past and present, but does so in such a graceful way that you feel led by the hand, and not at sea as to where in time you are.

I held onto my own theory of what would happen in the story all the way through, until I could no longer close my eyes to the very sad truth. I think this story will continue to haunt me for a long time to come and will not be easily forgotten. 

I'm not sure how the author has managed to write such a work of fiction. Although the basis is a true crime; the level of passion and beauty exuded throughout is just astonishing for a first novel.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and my thanks to Random Things Tours for the invite to the blog tour. Also the beautiful hardback copy which I would encourage you to get, as it adds so much more to the enjoyment of reading the book.