Elle's 33 Best Books of the Year A Searing Debut Novel from One of the Most Imaginative Minds in Fiction
Chizuru Akitani is the twelve-year-old daughter of the famous violinist and Japanese “Living National Treasure” Hiro Akitani. Overweight and hafu (her mother is white), she is tormented by her classmates and targeted by the most relentless bully of them all, Tomoya Yu. When Chizuru’s mother dies suddenly her father offers her no comfort and she is left feeling alone and unmoored. At school, her bully’s cruelty intensifies, and in a moment of blind rage, Chizuru grabs a Morimoto letter opener from her teacher’s desk and fatally stabs Tomoya Yu in the neck.
For the next seven years, Chizuru is institutionalized. Her father visits her just twice before ultimately disowning her. Upon release, Chizuru flees Japan for a new identity and life in the United States. Determined to outrun her murderous past, she renames herself Rio, graduates from nursing school, marries a loving man, and soon has a daughter. But when a mysterious package arrives on her doorstep in Boulder, Colorado, announcing the death of her father, Rio feels compelled to return to Japan for the first time in twenty years, leaving her husband and her daughter confused and bereft. Going back to her homeland, and to the scene of her complicated past, feels like stepping into a strange and familiar dream. When she unexpectedly reconnects with Miss Danny, who had been her beloved teacher at the time of the stabbing, long-kept secrets are unearthed, forcing Rio to confront her past in ways she never imagined, and to decide if she will reveal to her family who she once was.
Full of atmospheric and illuminating descriptions of Japan and its culture, Pull Me Under is an affecting exploration of home, identity, and the limits of forgiveness. Kelly Luce has written a bold and psychologically complex first novel that grips and dazzles from start to finish.

Pull Me Under: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Luce, Kelly

United States

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

Set in Japan, Luce's playful, tender stories―reminiscent of Haruki Murakami and Aimee Bender―tip into the fantastical, plumb the power of memory, and measure the human capacity to love. The award-winning narratives in this mesmerizing debut trace the lives of ex-pats, artists, and outsiders as they seek to find their place in the world. Hana Sasaki beguiles and surprises: stories include an oracular toaster, a woman who grows a tail, and a most unusual kind of sex reassignment.

Three Scenarios In Which Hana Sasaki Grows A Tail

A Strange Object

Elle's 33 Best Books of the YearA Searing Debut Novel from One of the Most Imaginative Minds in FictionKelly Luce's Pull Me Under "is a suspense novel with a female protagonist that gets more right about women than so many others I've read in the past few years" (NPR).Luce tells the story of Rio Silvestri, who, when she was twelve years old, fatally stabbed a school bully. Rio, born Chizuru Akitani, is the Japanese American daughter of the revered violinist Hiro Akitani―a Living National Treasure in Japan and a man Rio hasn’t spoken to since she left her home country for the United States (and a new identity) after her violent crime. Her father’s death, along with a mysterious package that arrives on her doorstep in Boulder, Colorado, spurs her to return to Japan for the first time in twenty years. There she is forced to confront her past in ways she never imagined, pushing herself, her relationships with her husband and daughter, and her own sense of who she is to the brink.

Picador

'Fierce and suspenseful... Written with precise and spectacular beauty.' Laura van den BergOn a cloudless afternoon in the peaceful Shikoku city of Tokushima, twelve-year-old Chizuru Akitani walked into the staff room at Motomachi Elementary, covered with blood and clutching a letter opener.Chizuru Akitani is the daughter of the famous violinist and Japanese Living National Treasure Hiro Akitani. Overweight and hafu (her mother is white), she is relentlessly tormented at school. When her mother dies suddenly and the cruelty at school only intensifies, Chizuru snaps in a moment of blind rage and fatally stabs a classmate in the neck.After seven years of institutionalisation, Chizuru flees Japan for a new life in the United States. She renames herself Rio, graduates from nursing school, marries and has a daughter, determined to keep her past a secret. But when a mysterious package arrives on her doorstep announcing the death of her father, she feels compelled to return to Japan for the first time in twenty years. Back in her homeland, long-kept secrets are suddenly unearthed and Rio's dark past is thrust back into her life.Full of sensual descriptions of Japan, its culture, and its language, Pull Me Under is a fierce and suspenseful exploration of home, identity, and the limits of forgiveness.'Phenomenal . . . captivates and disquiets in its search for answers about the parts of ourselves that are unknowable.' Electric Literature'Psychologically complex; inspires horror, sympathy and even, at times, humour.' Japan Times'Beautifully written and utterly hypnotic.' Bustle'Propulsive and fresh . . . Luce knows how to end her story, and does so satisfyingly.' Chicago Tribune

Pull Me Under

Daunt Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Luce, Kelly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Luce, Kelly

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Luce, Kelly. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pull Me Under: A Novel

Three Scenarios In Which Hana Sasaki Grows A Tail

Pull Me Under: A Novel

Pull Me Under