REVIEW: One Love Chigusa (novella) by Soji Shimada

One Love Chigusa is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This takes place in the relatively near future, 2091. Xie Hoyu, a 25-year-old man, gets into a terrible motorcycle accident that would likely have killed him if it weren't for advancements in modern medical technology and a coincidentally nearby ambulance. Even so, the work done on him was particularly extensive, and he was left with a cyborg body that had more non-organic parts than anyone else in the world. His doctors were reassured that he seemed to be healing and adjusting well. The one difference that Xie initially noticed was a lack of interest in human company.

When it comes time for him to be discharged, however, the differences in his perceptions of the world become more apparent. Human faces, particularly women's faces, now look demonic and distorted with anger. It's so difficult for him to be around others that he begins contemplating suicide, until one day he sees his salvation: a woman whose face and manner are both refreshingly human and exceedingly beautiful. He becomes consumed by a desire to find her again and speak to her.

I picked this up entirely because of the author - the publisher's description didn't really tell me much beyond that it was sci-fi, and the cover art told me nothing. I had previously read and enjoyed Shimada's mysteries and was willing to try a short science fiction work by him.

Maybe I've just read too much science fiction, but this didn't really offer a lot of surprises. It wasn't hard to guess what was going on with Chigusa - why she behaved the way she did, why there were peculiar rules she had to follow, and why everyone was so surprised by Xie's reaction to her.

The way the work handled gender was odd and problematic. At one point in the story, Xie was somehow magically cured of his monstrous perception of others, but only when it came to men - women still looked demonic to him. The reason for this was never explained. And somehow only Chigusa appeared normal. Not just normal, but a vision of femininity who possessed no negative emotions that might bring Xie discomfort.

Although Xie eventually realized that his behavior towards Chigusa amounted to stalking, and he felt bad about it, that didn't stop him from begging and pleading to be allowed to continue to see and speak to her. While I appreciated the in-text recognition that his behavior was creepy, it felt like Shimada moved on to "but it's fine, really" too quickly and easily. All the focus was on Xie's wants and needs.

In terms of overall logic, it didn't really make sense that Chigusa was the only person Xie saw the way he did. There should have been more, but I suppose that would have complicated things for Shimada, who would then have had to come up with something beyond "she's beautiful" in order to explain why Xie was drawn to Chigusa in particular.