In this witty and exuberant collection of feminist retellings of
traditional Japanese folktales, humans live side by side with spirits
who provide a variety of useful services--from truth-telling to
babysitting, from protecting castles to fighting crime.
A
busybody aunt who disapproves of hair removal; a pair of door-to-door
saleswomen hawking portable lanterns; a cheerful lover who visits every
night to take a luxurious bath; a silent house-caller who babysits and
cleans while a single mother is out working. Where the Wild Ladies Are
is populated by these and many other spirited women—who also happen to
be ghosts. This is a realm in which jealousy, stubbornness, and other
excessive “feminine” passions are not to be feared or suppressed, but
rather cultivated; and, chances are, a man named Mr. Tei will notice
your talents and recruit you, dead or alive (preferably dead), to join
his mysterious company.
In this witty and exuberant collection of
linked stories, Aoko Matsuda takes the rich, millenia-old tradition of
Japanese folktales—shapeshifting wives and foxes, magical trees and
wells—and wholly reinvents them, presenting a world in which humans are
consoled, guided, challenged, and transformed by the only sometimes
visible forces that surround them.
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