The lantern of lost memories

Hirasaki's photography studio exists between death and what comes after in this short, quirky Japanese novel. There, the newly deceased awaken confused and are soon tasked with sorting through copious photographs of their lives. When they've chosen the best, Hirasaki creates a beautiful display that will ease the deceased onto the next mystery, more at peace with their end. An aging school teacher, a yakuza man, and a young girl each arrive and need Hirasaki's gentle guidance--with a bit of time travel--to discover what's important. Like several other recent popular Japanese novels, the narrative is composed of episodic meditations on life. But the stories are less random than they appear, and Hirasaki's own mystery runs through them. Unlike his clients, he possesses only a single photograph and no memories. Though lacking in identity, his personality shines through in his compassion and sincerity, which help him find hope amid the human horrors that cage his final client. VERDICT Hiiragi's thoughtful English-language debut will send readers searching through their minds to excavate the forgotten moments that define them even now.--Matthew Galloway

The quiet story of a man who works in the staging area where people who have recently died spend time reflecting on their lives before moving on to the next stage. Hirasaka works in a photo studio--one of many, he assumes--where his job is to await deliveries of one photo for every day of a person's life; then, when that person appears, he helps them come to terms with the fact that they've just died. During their time in his studio, he treats them to whatever snacks and beverages were their favorites and gives them space to reflect on their life through photographs. Their job is to choose one picture from every year they were alive; once that task is done and Hirasaka has built a lantern to hold them all, the newly deceased will sit and watch it spin. If a photo looks faded, that means it's a memory that has been revisited so often it has become worn with use. In those instances, Hirasaka and his guest can travel to the 24 hours of that day to retake the picture so it's just as rich and vibrant as it was when the memory first formed. That picture is the last thing the person will see in the lantern as they head off to the next stage. The story is told in three richly drawn vignettes, each focusing on a different person being helped by Hirasaka. A bittersweet picture emerges of complicated people from different walks of life impacted by hardships who nonetheless survived--until their ultimate passing, that is, either from natural causes or at the hands of others. As kind, or mean, or nondescript, or memorable as each person is, their strongest memories--perhaps of helping others, or making a wrong choice--are held up as experiences that made them who they are in life, impacting their future selves and who they become in this world and the next. A complex tale of humanity and how small interactions can change the course of a life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.