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By Yayoi Ogawa (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1595-321-39X
This intriguing, introspective love story is a beguiling and tasteful exploration of modern relationships at the margins of societal norms. Sumire Iwaya is a thoroughly modern woman, with a good job, better prospects and her priorities sorted. But like so many career women her romantic life is a problem. Recovering from a messy affair with the boss’s son, and constantly evaluating her admittedly high romantic standards just means that she’s tired, stressed, comfortably situated and terribly, terribly lonely.
When she discovers a beautiful young man in a dumpster she grudgingly gives him shelter. He appears to be a complete innocent, vital, energetic and without guile – or manners. Fed up with her life and with the kind of men she seems to attract, she enters into a bizarre pact with the vagrant. Naming him Momo, after a dog she had as a child, she adopts him as her secret pet. She will feed, bathe and pamper him in return for companionship, warmth and the kind of unconditional love that only an animal can provide.
But what is “unconditionalâ€? As Sumire’s life goes on, with friends, career and even a new boyfriend all piling their respective pressures on, her secret pet increasingly becomes her only haven of contentment. But Momo is not a dumb animal. He has his own life no matter how he might deny it. And in this classic “When Harry Met Sally†dilemma the couple are being compelled by their own natures to reassess their relationship and thereby endanger their only emotional refuge.
Sharp, charming and strikingly drawn, this is a book for grown-ups that manages to be mature whilst still being decorous. I eagerly await the sequel.
© 2000, 2004 Yayoi Ogawa. All Rights Reserved.