In a tour-de-force tapestry of science fiction and historical fiction, Andromeda Romano-Lax presents a story set in Japan and Taiwan that spans a century of empire, conquest, progress, and destruction. 2029: In Japan, a historically mono-cultural nation, childbirth rates are at an all-time low and the elderly are living increasingly longer lives. This population crisis has precipitated the mass … precipitated the mass immigration of foreign medical workers from all over Asia, as well as the development of finely tuned artificial intelligence to step in where humans fall short.
In Tokyo, Angelica Navarro, a Filipina nurse who has been in Japan for the last five years, works as caretaker for Sayoko Itou, a moody, secretive woman about to turn 100 years old. One day, Sayoko receives a present: a cutting-edge robot “friend” that will teach itself to anticipate Sayoko’s every need. Angelica wonders if she is about to be forced out of her much-needed job by an inanimate object—one with a preternatural ability to uncover the most deeply buried secrets of the humans around it. Meanwhile, Sayoko becomes attached to the machine. The old woman has been hiding secrets of her own for almost a century—and she’s too old to want to keep them anymore.
What she reveals is a hundred-year saga of forbidden love, hidden identities, and the horrific legacy of WWII and Japanese colonialism—a confession that will tear apart her own life and Angelica’s. Is the helper robot the worst thing that could have happened to the two women—or is it forcing the changes they both desperately needed?
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A beautifully written novel, set in 2029 Tokyo, telling the story of two women, one a Filipina nurse, Angelica, and the other a near 100-year-old Japanese woman, Sayoko, with a hidden past. The dynamics between the two women changes when Sayoka is given an self-learning care robot, Hiro. The novel’s structure is inviting as you see Hiro develop and the stories of Angelica and Sayoko revealed. Many themes are touched on including the treatment of women, aging, AI, race discrimination and love. Impossible to categorise into a single genre, this novel is a very satisfying read.
I loved how this book combined sci-fi, with its fairly grim picture of the near future, with some historical fiction in the form of the reminiscences of one of the characters. I keep telling people about this novel, and I know it will stay with me for a long time.
Angelica, a Filipina immigrant in Japan, is nurse to Sayoko, who will soon have a party to celebrate her 100th birthday. Hiro, a robot, is delivered one day, and as he develops, Angelica fears that she will be replaced by the machine. As the story unfolds, we learn the truth about Sayoko’s past, which she has hidden for so long, as well as Angelica’s many problems. The story takes you to unexpected places, both in Sayoko’s narratives about her past, and in the development of Hiro. The book offers a complex view of the future, perhaps more subtle than some sci-fi works, in which there are believable problems, and at the end, a glimmer of hope from an unexpected source.
Takes a while to get into it but very interesting and well plotted, with a plausible future setting.
This book provides a glimpse into a part of history unfamiliar to most people. It also describes the often hidden abuse of women in wartime.
This is a wonderful near-future sci-fi, reminiscent in pace and tone of some of Heinlein’s earlier stories. The historical elements used are perfectly chosen time-capsules for the conflicts depicted. The sci-fi robotic elements present themselves with verisimilitude. The plights of the various characters are finely drawn and highly sympathetic. Reading this book was time well-spent.
Romano-Lax’s ambitious and zeitgeisty new novel Plum Rains takes place in 2029 Tokyo. Much is familiar – people go to Starbucks, rely heavily on their cell phones, and enjoy viewing cherry blossoms. Self-driving cars are a given, sexbots are now illegal, and the nation’s low birthrate is further impacted by an “infertility crisis.”
Fortysomething Filipina Angelica Navarro is employed as a caretaker for Sayoko Itou, who is about to celebrate her hundredth birthday. She’s worried about an impending Japanese language proficiency test that she must pass in order to keep her job. One day, she arrives at work to discover that her client’s son, who lives abroad, has sent a prototype caretaker robot to keep his mother company. As if Angelica didn’t have enough on her mind already, now she has to worry about being replaced by a machine. Plum Rains is entertaining, provocative, and eerily plausible