A Hundred Years and a Day, by Tomoka Shibasaki and translated by Polly Barton, is a collection of short stories (perhaps vignettes might better describe them) where the characters are nameless and the locations, the villages and buildings, serve as additional characters.

It is true of all books that some people will like what the author does and some won't. Many times, no matter which view you hold, you don't immediately grasp why someone would feel the other way. For this book, I understand, even though I don't feel the same way, why many will be turned off or simply "not interested." The events are largely nonevents, in the way that most events in our own lives aren't anything big but may well stay with us and affect us for years. So readers wanting a straightforward story, the common "beginning, middle, end," will resist this one. Just please, as a former teacher, don't make it sound like there is only one way to correctly write a story. If a story doesn't work for you, that is fine. But the implication with using correct or proper is that whatever is done differently is incorrect and improper. If a story works, then it was done properly for that story. If it is how the writer wants to tell the story, then it was done properly for that writer. If it didn't work for you, then it didn't work for you. Subjective taste is not objective fact.

If you enjoy slice-of-life vignettes that may well cover an entire lifetime in just a few pages, that leave room for you to think about not just the story but your own life, then you will be richly rewarded. Don't read this as quickly as you will be tempted, let each story sit with you for a while. Maybe just five or ten minutes, maybe a day, you might be surprised at the insight some of them will offer on your own life. Change is constant, even when we aren't aware of it. Returning to any place, or any person for that matter, can be startling because of what is changed, and what hasn't. These are some of the things this volume will give you the chance to reflect on, if you are a reflective type of reader/thinker.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

These stories are ordinary, yet sometimes slightly offbeat, making them perfect for reading one at a time while waiting for someone in a café.
No alarms and no surprises.

This was a cozy read of 34 short stories.
Every story had a different theme and some I enjoyed, while others I could have done without. However I will say that Tomoka Shibasaki has talent and overall this was a nice read.
Thank you NetGalley & Stone Bridge Press for offering the opportunity.
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A Hundred Years and a Day by @shibasaki_tomoka , translated from the Japanese by @pollybukuro , is one of most unique story collections I’ve read in a while.

Sometimes when collections skew experimental, I find myself losing some enjoyment to the extra brainpower it takes me to keep up—certainly not the case here.

Yet again, @pollybukuro doesn’t steer me wrong. Truthfully, the cover & Polly’s name are what pushed me to give this one a try. The more translated lit I read, the more I learn to trust my favorite translators’ tastes. Polly is easily one of my auto-buy translators.

Do you have a translator you seek out? @lizzie_davis_ @kevingerrydunn & @emkateram keep Polly company on my list (so far)!

I recommend this one to fans of translated lit, unique structuring in story collections and/or lovers of indie presses.
@stonebridgepress is SUCH a great source for Japanese literature!! & I’m so grateful for this #gifted finished copy, thank you bunches 💌

From the author of the wonderful 'Spring Garden' comes this collection of 34 short stories, each linked by themes of connection, nostalgia, of moments in people's lives. It is a wonderful and immersive experience, one that will resonate with many people. The cumulative effect is one of contemplation - there is nothing flashy, no fireworks, no shocks. This is human existence, in all its quiet progression, our connection with time and changing landscapes and environments.

A subtle and involving series of stories, wonderfully translated by Polly Barton. 4.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

These 34 short stories show compelling glimpses into people's days and lives. These stories are short and yet I get a sense of feeling complete with the interactions with each story.

A Hundred Years and a Day offers 34 very brief glimpses into the lives of others. The titles of the stories are more of a quick synopsis with the stories then fleshing out a few more details.

In a way, this collection felt more like a series of ideas for stories given in short form. There was a definite theme of human connection (or lack thereof in some cases) but the stories were so short that I didn't feel able to connect with them on an emotional level. This was nonetheless an interesting piece of work and I wouldn't avoid reading more by Shibasaki in future.

Temporary DNF

From what I have read so far, this is a beautiful short story collection, with strong themes of nostalgia and reflecting on the past, that currently stands on 3 and a half stars for me and has the potential to be a 4 or 5-star. The reason why I am DNF'ing is it is just not the right time for me to read this book, and if I were to read and review it right now I wouldn't appreciate it as much as I could at a later point. I will definitely be returning to it.

Bool Review - A Hundred Years and a Day

Tomoka Shibasaki wasn't known to me before this, but she's a big deal in Japan, having won the Akutagawa prize (the Japanese equivalent to the Man Booker). Polly Barton, who translated this, also just translated Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, which is longlisted for the #internationalmanbooker.
A Hundred Years and a Day covers 34 stories in which Shibasaki studies the way humans come together and part, via places, buildings, roads, and objects with the infrastructures we create connecting us in an alienated world. People stay, migrate, return to places, to other people, and to memories as the world around them changes. What results feels a little like an anthropological study of humans moving through time and it really felt like people-watching at hyperspeed. It also felt a little like being in a conversation with someone telling me about other peoples' lives.

The large timespan covered in the short stories reminded me that change is constant, we all face it, time moves on no matter what, things are transient and life will go on, so there's value in zooming out and putting things in perspective. I found something about that really comforting. It was a really enjoyable read, and I really liked it!

Thank you so much to @stonebridgepress and @netgalley for this copy!

A Hundred Years and a Day is out now!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This book has 34 short stories over about 200 pages, so each story is only a few pages long. I didn’t read this all in one go, but rather dipped in and out of it when I had a little pocket of time. Some of the stories left me feeling like I wanted more, or for it to be a longer story.

This is a nice slice of life kind of book, not ground breaking, but could be a nice read depending on what you’re looking for.

The fact that the titles of each story are as long as isekai anime titles is hilarious.

These stories have no real point to them and while I personally liked that slice of life vibe, it’s definitely going to be an acquired taste.
Think of it as randomly peering through someone’s window for 5 mins - you don’t know what you’re gonna get but it’s likely to be no drama and no conclusive happenings.
Each story is short and few are memorable, but I enjoyed my time here.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC
Translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton, A Hundred Years and a Day is a collection of 34, concise, fragmented stories that explore the intricate ties between humans and the places they inhabit in an otherwise disconnected world. It captures the fleeting nature of movement—people drifting from one place to another, sometimes leaving behind traces of themselves, other times passing through unnoticed, only to return and discover the deep, often unspoken bonds they share with these spaces.

The book also contemplates the interplay between motion and stillness across time, where towns and villages emerge as silent, secondary characters, preserving the echoes of those who once lived within them. People come and go, but places remain, steadfastly holding the memories and histories of those who have passed through. It is a poignant meditation on belonging, memory, and the enduring presence of place in our lives.

this was a great short story collection. lucky the publisher also gave me a physical copy to read and annotate. thank you so much!

Each story in this book is a look at the mundane intricacies of everyday life. I found that the stories all gave me a similar feeling and similar payoff with themes of connection and emotion woven throughout each tale. I found that the translation was well done, however I could tell that some of the language and descriptions were not totally one to one in terms of comparison. This is the first story collection that I've read that is true literary fiction, with less "action" and more focus on the people themselves. It was enjoyable but I think not necessarily my cup of tea. However I understand how someone could love this!

I wish that each story didn't begin with a summary, as those basically gave away the entire premise of the story.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press | MONKEY for this arc!

A fantastic collection and one that will resonate with readers. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it.

This book is an experimental collection of 34 short stories by author Tomoka Shibasaki.
The theme that recurs often are stories about places and people. Places that change physically over time (wars, redevelopment...) but remain the same in people's memories. In one story in particular it struck me that the character in order to remember the place, a station where a train passes from time to time, opens the windows to smell it and remember even better.
In some stories, however, we start with one person's story and a place acts as a “witness” to talk about another person's story.
Some of the stories I found boring, some with a suspenseful ending, some I didn't understand (my fault surely), with others I laughed heartily: they are cute Japanese people.
I booked this book mainly because of the cover, those cartoons reminded me of buildings and after reading the book I think it may be an interpretation, but who knows.
Last thing, go to youtube or spotify and listen to the song Kawachi Ondo.

This is a quiet yet lovely book. One the one hand, it can seem like nothing much is happening in these stories, but on the other, everything happens. There are no cinematic storylines here, but each story is the story of a life or lives--ordinary people moving through days, weeks, months, years. Time passes. There are connections and disconnections between people, people and objects, or people and places. Memories resurface. Things change. People change. Places change. Relationships change. As they do for all of us. The excellent writing is very matter-of-fact. I stopped at times to admire sentences and descriptions. For instance, one character is described as feeling like he was disconnected from his own life and leasing space in a different person's body. The stories are straightforward, but no less powerful for that.

I've not read any of Shibasaki's previous work, but I definitely want to now. In some ways, these stories reminded me a bit of the kinds of short stories Lydia Davis writes, so if you're a fan of hers, or of short stories in general, I can highly recommend this collection. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time and I'm delighted to have read it.

"A Hundred Years and a Day" accommodates a remarkable collection of 34 fractions, each capturing divergent facets of human life. Despite the compact length, these pieces bring a profoundly emotional and philosophical lens to our human experience as a whole. What stands out most is the juxtaposition of emotions and how beautifully balanced they are. These stories are infused with a sense of nostalgia and a poignant reflection, all materialized with a delicious nonchalance and equally immersive writing. "A Hundred Years and a Day" beautifully weaves the symphony of human experiences.



Thank you, NetGalley and Stone Bridge Press for the copy of this book.

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

There is a pattern I follow when reviewing short stories: I call it, for convenience, The Bryce Method after my old friend Bryce and his collection-spanning short summary followed by a very short summary and rating of the individual story habits from his blogging days.

Not going to work here.

Thirty-four stories in two hundred pages is problem one; not much between summary and spoiler. Two is these are stories that begin with something I'd call a spoiler: a summary-like paragraph set off from the text, which honestly took a half-star off my overall rating for off-puttingness. I think it's pointless, for these reasons, to use my old method as it would really add to the wall-to-wall spoilers. To avoid a close encounter with the shrieking Spoiler Stasi maniacs, allow me to review the gestalt of the collection for you.

It was fine. Nice prose, I'd say based on a long reading life with more than the usual number of translated works in many genres, quite gracefully translated. Plenty of well-woven-in clues to words that wouldn't translate. A solid, creditable job for a nice book of stories.

Does anything here do something that "pushes the short story to a new level"? No.

Does it really need to? No. Breathless copy does nothing good for this solid, well-crafted collection of short fiction mostly exploring the horrors of trying to communicate with actual other human beings in mutually satisfying connective ways. It's a collection full of fun, if weird, ways for that to fail. It has no central character or group, unlike that Ryu Murakami book I wasn't keen on that did mostly the same thing. It isn't set in one place like Pleasantville , that braided-stories novel I liked so well. In the off-kilter liminal spaces we're in for the whole collection, I'm most put in mind of the way Brian Evenson, in his uneasy style, makes the world feel. These are *not* horror, or even horror-adjacent, stories; instead, they partake of the weirdness and not-quite-ness of horror without any of the sillier trappings.

Polly Barton's ear for, say, how a wisteria vine relates to the wisteria vine it's been entwined with for goddesses only know how long, is the main vehicle for little minds like thee and me to get access to the core of longing and need in each of these very Japanese tales. Will we really know what's what? Not in my experience, and all the more fun to read because of it.

When I finished this read I had to sit a minute and look into my emotional reactor core to see what this bolus of new fuel was doing. I'm impressed that the way Author Shibasaki and her able translator, Polly Barton, never once threw a sucker punch. These stories deliver their intensely meant, unshielded radioactivity to you direct. It's not fussy; it's not overwrought; it's the high-quality story-ore, direct to your well-shielded reactor core to be processed.

I gave it a half-star less than perfect because, in some cases, the oddball opening paragraphs say too much even for me. That's hard to do!

I always enjoy short stories as they allow you to finish a section of the book with ut feeling the need to move on — Unfortunately many of these short stories left me wanting more development and expansion . I think if you are Japanese or have experience/ knowledge of living in Japan you will be able to appreciate the first half of the book more — the second half of the book seemed easy to follow for any knowledge level. I personally enjoyed the second half of the books stories as they had an air of mystery to them, if you like quick, quiet, thought-provoking fiction that lingers in the mind, this collection is a must-read.


Thanks to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press | MONKEY for this ARC. This is my honest review.