Book chats are a one-time, one-hour event. No need to own the book or read the book, this is a taster session where you get to explore and then decide if you wish to follow up by reading the book. Mark Godin and Martina Steiger lead the presentation and you get to ask questions, all online from the comfort of your own home! 

SHADOW LIFE

By Hiromo Goto

As a poet and novelist, Hiromi Goto effortlessly blends wry, observational slice-of-life literary fiction with poetic magical realism in the tender and surprising graphic novel Shadow Life, with haunting art from debut graphic artist Ann Xu.

When old woman Kumiko’s well-meaning adult daughters place her in an assisted living home, the seventy-six-year-old widow gives it a try, but it’s not where she wants to be. She goes on the lam and finds a cozy bachelor apartment, keeping the location secret even while communicating online with her eldest daughter. Kumiko revels in the small, daily pleasures: decorating as she pleases, eating what she wants, and swimming in the community pool. But something has followed her from her former residence—Death’s Shadow.

Kumiko’s sweet life is shattered when Death’s Shadow swoops in to collect her. With her quick mind and sense of humor, Kumiko, with the help of friends new and old, is prepared for the fight of her life. But how long can an old woman thwart fate?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hiromi Goto was born in Chiba’ken, Japan in 1966 and immigrated to Canada with her family in 1969. They lived on the west coast of British Columbia for eight years before moving to Nanton, Alberta, a small town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where her father farmed mushrooms. Goto earned her B.A. in English from the University of Calgary in 1989. 

Goto’s grandmother told her Japanese stories when she was growing up. Her work is also influenced by her father’s life stories in Japan. These stories often featured ghosts and folk creatures such as the kappa — a small creature with a frog’s body, a turtle’s shell and a bowl-shaped head that holds water. Her writing commonly explores the themes of race, gender and cultural experiences, like eating, while moving between the realms of fantasy, horror and reality. 

Her first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms, was the 1995 recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book Canada and Caribbean Region’ and the co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Goto speaks to a diasporic experience, on cultural conflicts held on stages from food to hygiene to language, and to the price paid for denying one’s origins. 

THE FACILITATORS

This book chat will be facilitated by Martina Steiger, Hospice of Waterloo Spiritual Care Facilitator, and Mark Godin, Volunteer Facilitator, Book Studies and Book Chats. We invite you to join us as we explore this book, engage in deep listening, and participate in meaningful conversation.

TO REGISTER

Please RSVP on this page. A Zoom link will be provided closer to the event to all registered participants.

HAVE QUESTIONS?

Please email Mark Godin at mark@hospicewaterloo.ca.