Ito, Hiromi / Angles, Jeffrey (tr.): Thorn Puller

Stone Bridge Press, paperback

Publication Date: December 13, 2022

Publisher Marketing: The first novel to appear in English by award-winning author Hiromi Ito explores the absurdities, complexities, and challenges experienced by a woman caring for her two families: her husband and daughters in California and her aging parents in Japan. As the narrator shuttles back and forth between these two starkly different cultures, she creates a powerful and entertaining narrative about what it means to live and die in a globalized society.

"The Thorn Puller is a masterpiece... a novel about some of literature's greatest themes-love, human connection, death, and the meaning of suffering."

--Allison Fincher, Asian Review of Books

"A brilliantly poetic translation . . . explored with biting humor and sharp wit."

--Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

"In Ito's literary vision, life unfolds more as a stream of language than a series of plot points. With each phase of life she records, Ito shows how language emerges from the rituals of social reproduction that mark the coming and going of generations, from childbirth to eldercare. "

--Eva Rosenfield, Chicago Review

"A strong affirmation of life. Working collaboratively with the author, Jeffrey Angles, a recognized poet in both English and Japanese, has done a wonderful job translating this work. Ito is a poet of some renown... "Sometimes I dare to imagine I'm an independent woman," says the narrator. Despite all the forces clamoring for her attention, she is, and that is both the strength and appeal of this novel."

--Erik R. Lofgren, World Literature Today