One Love Chigusa
Translated by Sir David Warren
About
The year is 2091. A catastrophic motorcycle accident leaves Xie Hoyu coming to terms with a new cybernetic body — rebuilt from salvaged parts, more machine than flesh. In this transformed state, he falls obsessively in love with Chigusa, a woman who may or may not be entirely human herself. Their relationship becomes the novel's exploration of what love means when the boundary between organic and artificial has dissolved. Soji Shimada, known for his locked-room mysteries, ventures into science fiction with a tale that uses posthuman romance to ask fundamental questions about consciousness, desire, and what makes a person a person. The world-building is meticulous; the emotional territory is unexpectedly tender. A love story for the end of the human body — about whether the heart's machinery can survive the upgrade of everything around it.
