The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World

January 1, 2021
Two bereft people find themselves seeking a garden at the top of a hill in Ōtsuchi, Japan, where a disconnected phone allows the grief-stricken to send their voices into the wind as they talk to those they have lost. In March 2011, an earthquake off the coast of Japan caused an enormous tsunami that reached miles inland, killing an estimated 15,897 people. The resulting devastation of people, places, and families redefined a generation in northeast Japan, including--in this book--a woman named Yui, who lost both her mother and her 3-year-old daughter to the water even though they had followed emergency protocol and headed to a local shelter. Yui, now a radio station host in Tokyo, is hamstrung by her grief. But then she hears about a phone box where the grieving can send their voices on the wind to their lost loved ones, and she makes her pilgrimage. Upon her arrival at the town, she spots a man with a youthful face and gray hair who, it seems to her, has "a corner of darkness"in his features, as does she. He is seeking the phone box to speak with his lost wife, the mother of his young daughter. This wonderful, gentle, hopeful story leads the reader through the beginning of Yui and Takeshi's 30 years together. Through their sorrow and grief, they learn how to let happiness, hope, joy, and laughter reside side by side with their memories of loss. It is a beautifully written book. Messina--an Italian who has lived in Tokyo for 15 years--writes in a way that's evocative of Kazuo Ishiguro but in an opposite way: While Ishiguro leads with comfort and hints at the sadness to come, Messina offers grief and sadness first but offers the reader a trail of breadcrumbs toward future happiness. A must-read.

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March 15, 2021
On the coast of Japan, there is a phone booth where people can speak to their dead loved ones. Yui, a radio host, makes the arduous journey from Tokyo nearly every month. She lost both her mother and daughter in the terrible tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, and her unrelenting loneliness spurs her on. On the train, Yui meets Takeshi, a widower whose three-year-old daughter has gone mute. Takeshi wants to use the Wind Phone, as it is called, to speak to his wife about their daughter. And while Yui is reluctant to use the phone herself, preferring to spend her time in the gardens there, both of them form a deep connection to the place and each other. This is a gorgeous, breathtaking book, translated from the original Italian and inspired by a real place. The delicate story of Yui's grief and how she patches herself together is punctuated by small vignettes about Yui and the other people in her life. For readers of Gail Tsukiyama and those healing from loss.

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