I can't believe I've never heard of Chiyo Uno before, as now I am completely captivated by her story, her passion! I'm not sure what I expected when I selected this book, but it surprised me in so many ways. Not typically something I would choose to read, but I'm really glad I had the opportunity.!

It's one of those books where nothing "big" really happens, and everything is told in a very matter of fact way, the story of a young woman's life, yet somehow it is so impactful. Who would have thought I'd relate so much to a young woman growing up in early 20th century Japan? I loved how she followed her need for freedom, how she made her own decisions (not that there was much evidence of considering different options!). I mostly liked that she wasn't portrayed as good or bad, and neither was anyone else in her story. They were human.

The Story of a Single Woman by Chiyo Uno is a story of one woman exploring where she stands in the world around her. The book explores the relationships of the main character with her family, her friends, her exes, and her current love interests. It touches on pretty much everything - from marriage to breakups to love and life and to death. It explores her relationships with alcohol, money, and makeup, and how all of these things affect her as she goes through life.

Chiyo Uno's imagery and descriptions are beautiful. The pain she shows the reader is told in a very lyrical way, but one that doesn't detract from what the main character is thinking. I love where she spoke about using writing to find her voice and bolstering her independence with it. It was very inspiring to her how she felt while writing, and how passionate she was about that aspect of her life.

I thoroughly enjoyed the main character's telling of her journey through life, and her striving for herself and her freedom, but I did find myself feeling bad for the others' around her for whom she had responsibility towards and shirked a couple of times. I feel like it was kind've excused as 'she was just finding herself', which absolutely valid, she had a lot of self-discovering to do. But she did it at the expense of other's at times I didn't feel they deserved it.
Then again, that's me judging her life, which I don't really have any right to do. And since it still made me feel things, I didn't take anything off my rating for this point.

Where I did take a point off my rating was for one scene in the book that had a description of an act that I felt was super unnecessary - and no, it was not related to spice in any way.

Clearly Chiyo Uno was clearly a very dedicated writer - and the book was supposed to read as a sort of autobiography I believe. I am very thankful to have been provided a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley. Thank you to Pushkin Press Classics for providing copies, and Chiyo Uno, for writing.

"After all, Kazue was never conscious of what she was doing. She simply took what life had to offer, with no more resistance than if she was buffeted along by the wind."

The Story of a Single Woman follows the adventurous life of Kazue, a young woman who refuses to conform to society’s expectations of marriage and instead goes on to live with various men, work a variety of jobs to sustain herself, and eventually establish herself as a writer. The first thing that struck me about the novel was its unconventional narrative style. It’s an autobiography told from a third-person perspective, a form known as the "I-novel," which is a apparently a distinctive form of Japanese fiction. This format gives a unique depth to the storytelling, allowing readers to witness the protagonist’s life from an intimate but a the same time slightly detached viewpoint.

Reading this novel felt like being on a calm boat ride on still waters, occasionally interrupted by a gentle wave. However, this juxtaposition of calm narration against the harsh realities of Kazue’s life creates a striking dissonance. Although her experiences are anything but serene—marked by several traumatic experiences, particularly at the hands of men, including her father—the storytelling offers a detached yet empathetic view of her personal evolution.

What I found most intriguing about the I-novel format is its ambiguity. Many questions raised throughout the story remain unanswered. The third-person narrator is also the protagonist, yet Kazue’s older self seems just as uncertain and reflective as the reader. This creates an open-endedness that encourages interpretation. While the facts of her life unfold before us, they often feel incomplete or unresolved, which enhances the story’s subtle tension and keeps the reader engaged. There are also moments of foreboding, hints at larger questions of fate and identity, which make you want to continue exploring Kazue’s world.

Two main characteristics of Kazue that truly resonated with me were her resourcefulness and her impulsiveness. First, she demonstrates a remarkable resilience and pragmatism in the face of hardship. Rather than allowing herself to wallow in despair, she accepts life as it comes, moving forward without lingering too long on past miseries. Second, Kazue’s impulsiveness is a defining trait. She often acts without thinking too much about the consequences, driven by instinct or a deep sense of freedom. What’s compelling, however, is how the narrator—Kazue’s older self—comes to terms with this trait. She acknowledges that not all choices in life need to make perfect sense, and that sometimes, there’s no logical explanation for the paths we take. This acceptance of the irrationality of life is something that truly struck a chord with me. Sometimes, our actions or life events may never fully add up, and that’s okay.

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

The Story of a Single Woman follows the elderly Kazue as she recalls her younger years.

Novels like these often shows us how far we've come as a society or how similar it still is from the past. Kazue, the protagonist, lead a life of promiscuity. I use the term 'promiscuity' because that is exactly how society would have viewed her back then. She had intimate relations with men who were not her husband, after all. Perhaps she was similar to her wayward father's impulsiveness, or she was just a woman who wanted to explore and push boundaries and did not care about what other people might think. Regardless of what the author intended for this character to be, it was interesting to read her adventures. The way she always did what she liked after her father died, the way she rebuilt her life every single time. Not to mention her love for her stepmother and her siblings. As frustrating as she was sometimes, I enjoyed this character a lot.

My only issue is the ending. I need more Kazue.

I was drawn to this book by the cover and the description, but unfortunately, I couldn't connect with the writing in a meaningful way. But if you love character-focused, deeply introspective stories, you'll enjoy this a lot. I think it's the perfect example of a reflective book, where the character looks back on her life at 70 years old and reflects on it from that present-day perspective, providing a lot of insight into her experience as a woman in 1920s Japan.

The unique and unflappable Uno Chiyo is retelling her life story; as a young woman ostracized and travelled extensively to Korea and Tokyo to find love. Within the context of the time (early 1900s) this was scandalous as she married three times during a time where strict social rules, laws and customs prohibit free love.

Narrated in the third person style, Kazue is in her seventies and reflecting dispassionately on her life. The introspective narration style is representative of a semi-autoiographical / literary fiction style called watakushi-shosetsu, and follows Kazue from childhood - her recollections of growing up alongside prestige, unquestioned norms and the gradual decline of her household. There are gaps in Kazues recall, but she seems to have a sense of acceptance that 'this was the way'. Perhaps we all think similarly when we look back.

Through the transformative use of makeup and reactions towards her, Kazue learns about the male gaze. I resonated with this slightly as a young woman trying to find her way in a white patriarchal world. Kazue is almost portryed in a dreamlike state, but don't mistaken this for a lack of agency.

This short story deserves to be part of the Pushkin classic publications, and part of a wider platform for the female perspective in early 1900's Japan.

I will share the review on IG closer to the publishing date.

An intensely personal and heavy read, The Story of a Single Woman is the story of the life of the author told through the eyes of a third person. It's an interesting way of telling your life, as it makes the story feel almost untrue and slightly detached from reality, however I can see how the author used this style of writing to expose her vulnerability and honesty.

It's very frank in it's discussion of sex and relationships, and I can see how it must have been a sensational read when it was first released in the 1970s. However, for me it's a very short read and at times I definitely felt the author was using the writing style to keep herself detached from the reader which meant I lacked an emotional connection to her story.

✨The Story of a Single Woman is an unusual and candid story of a young woman’s life✨

(Thank you NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the ARC!)

This is the book with history, and it has to be seen more than just a piece of literature, but also as a piece of history.

The book captured my interest from the Introduction and I could barely put it down at first. It is a short and well written story and Rebecca Copeland did a brilliant job translating the book from Japanese. The writing flows so naturally you would never know it wasn’t written in English. When doing some background reading I realised Rebecca personally knew Uno Chiyo and wrote a whole article about her visit. How cool is that!

Back to the book!

It’s a book about a simple woman living a very simple life at first, not thinking much about her actions and certainly not thinking at all about consequences to follow. I can only envy how seemingly easy it was for her to go about her life. They say it’s all about perception, and the book is a proof. It’s a striking contrast of living an extremely poor life yet not being bothered by it for a second. There first thing we can learn from her is how to do wherever you feel like and not worry about how you look in the eyes of the society. Kazue went on to having affairs with multiple men from an early age in the times if was unheard of.

I don’t know whether her frivolous behaviour and random affairs make her the sad woman or they make her free and progressive for her time? It depends where in her life story we look. In the beginning, she just follows the tug of what is it? lust? longing for intimacy and trust? And then she instantly falls for a man and just follows him anywhere and everywhere, fully giving him her heart and body. Than continues for many years with many men. Then in her later years she is established single woman who just has affairs whenever she wants to.
So what is it that she was really after? Hard to tell…
It wasn’t sex, she often mentioned that it didn’t really mean much or felt that good. Was it just a rebellion against the notion of the matrimony? Perhaps. Was it pure naïveté and lack of realisation of social norms and healthy relationships dynamics? Maybe.

My rating for the book resembles a U-shaped curve: it definitely started strong, then dipped significantly when Kazue started doing stupid things, and then grew again when the story spanned towards her mature years. But can I really blame her for making mistakes in her youth?

And finally, I don’t fully believe it to be her biography. She went on to be one of the most successful female writers in Japan, even was a kimono designer. The heroine in the book comes across is very naive and simple. The real Onu seems far from that.

To conclude, I enjoyed the book, but even more I enjoyed discovering the love and life story of real Onu Chiyo 🤩

The novella is just 160 pages but the story got me hook. Its like reading a perspective from a female version of Yozu Oba (minus the suicidal ideation and numbness) and about her own form of liberation and finding happiness. She's kind of similar to her father, the eldest daughter always a reflection of her father.

Can't wait to have my hands on the physical copy of the book from this publisher.
To the publisher, there's a minor typo on page 125.

A beautiful story retelling the life of 70 year old Kazuo, who bravely navigates her way through her cultural upbringing whilst breaking free of her bonds by following a path she wants, despite not all of her decisions being in her best interest and experiencing heartbreak, love, loss and grief along the way. Kazuo describes, with such candour, her emotions as she reflects on the life she had led and the outcomes of decisions she made that led her to where she is now. Such a wholesome, moving story, that had me cheering and my heartbreaking for her. I can't imagine what it must have been like and the bravery it would have taken at a young age to follow her own path despite what was expected of her. Definitely a book with a lot to take away.

A fascinating semi-autobiographical account of Chiyo’s life, her experiences being raised by a father with gambling and drinking problems, recounting her young adult life, relationships, and sexuality.

I appreciated the story and the interesting life, but I did not enjoy the writing style, and it felt like work to complete it.

Seventy year old Kazue looks back on her life, reflecting on her life choices. Raised in a household where her
alcoholic father ruled with demands and expectations, forced into a marriage when she was young, Kazue was
determined to live her life on her own terms. Despite what others thought, she foloowed her heart.
#TheStoryofaSingleWoman #PushkinPress #NetGalley

The Story of a Single Woman by Chiyo Uno was originally published in Japan in the 70s and is now being released in English for the first time this year by Pushkin Press.

The novel is an I-Novel, a semi-autobiographical story based on Uno’s own life told through the eyes of fictional Kazue who looks back on her young life in her later years. Kazue’s life begins in a small mountain village with her family and takes us to Tokyo via Korea and then onwards to various other places that Kazue frequents. Kazue’s life is unconventional for the time period she lives in and I find her character intriguing due to the choices she makes, in a way I envy the way she can step away from one thing to start afresh. The story is well paced and engrossing, I enjoyed seeing where Kazue was going at the different points in her life. I didn’t expect it to end where it did, as it was quite abrupt but I don’t mind that too much, it makes the book a brief vignette on a period in Kazue’s life.

I would recommend this book as a short, enjoyable and engrossing read. Especially for people who enjoy a reflective look at an unconventional life (certainly for the time period).

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the digital

The Story of a Single Woman is a thoughtful and poetic autobiographical novel about a woman who follows her impulses and inadvertently lives what was, in her age, a highly unconventional life. While it can be read as a study of a woman’s experience coming of age in prewar Japan, the directness and simplicity of the prose universalizes this fictionalized retelling of Uno’s early life so that it transcends constraints of time and place. It’s effectively imbued with both the intimacy of a letter to her past self, and the shrewd wisdom borne of the detachment created by age. This nuanced depiction of a fearless young woman on a quest for self discovery is well-deserving of its distinction as a classic piece of autobiographical fiction.

Thanks Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

"The Story of a Single Woman" is a novel that portrays the life of a woman who breaks the shackles of conventional morality that society forces on individuals. She isn't afraid to assert and think for herself. It's well written with stunning imagery and a rich narrative by a writer who has already lived this story herself.

This autobiographical work of Chiyo Uno is an intricate journey into many domains of the author's experiences, which were marked by painful relations, including four marriages and divorces. Written in her 70s, the manuscript chronicles the author's suppressed rage, bitterness, conflict with her ex-husbands, thus giving voice, out of a context of almost cold detachment. The stark writing style and unemotional way through which these feelings are depicted gives the novel a severely beautiful quality stampeding with power, one that some readers may find disturbing, while others will find overtly distant.

Interspersed throughout are several of the themes encompassing love, regret, and self-awareness; which are heavily nuanced by the shifts in the protagonist's perception of marriage— expressing both a desire to avoid it at one point and an obsessive addiction to it at another—contributing to a sense of psychological dissonance. While the novel effectively captures the internal conflict and emotional nuances of the protagonist, the heavy use of irony and the sense of detachment can feel intrusive to some readers, especially when the author seems to demand empathy for actions that may appear selfish or contradictory.

Breaking in the clouds, the novel offers a fascinating exploration of human behavior, especially in the way the protagonist engages in actions that seem almost unbelievable—such as showing up at an ex-lover’s house with a knife or abandoning her husband to start anew in Tokyo. These events are daring and force the reader to reconsider the nature of passion and self-destructive tendencies. There’s a notable tension between the protagonist's actions and her ability to grasp the emotions of others, especially her lovers and mother-in-law, which adds layers of complexity to her character. This remarkable sensitivity contrasts with her often cold, almost clinical writing, and invites readers to question their own responses to such behavior.

However, there’s a downside for those who may not appreciate the protagonist’s constant self-analysis and the author’s tone of forced introspection. The book often feels like it invites sympathy for the protagonist's struggles without offering room for readers to form their own conclusions. This can feel grating for those who prefer a more emotionally open or vulnerable narrative. For instance, I don't particularly agree with the author promiscuous way, not because simply that she is a woman but for who she has affected with this behavior. However, that is what draws compassion for the author on me, and I would have to think even less of the book if you weren't able to enjoy it — quite understandable.

Ultimately, the novel’s style and content will resonate with readers interested in a deeply introspective, and at times unsettling, exploration of the complexities of love, regret, and the search for self-understanding. For others, the lack of emotional expression and the self-absorbed tone might make it an alienating experience. I on the other hand, actually quite enjoy with how the story was told.

Uno Chiyo was born in 1897, that’s a long time ago kids, she began writing in the 1930s all the way up to 1987. In the midst of her literary career she also started up a fashion magazine, became a successful kimono designer, and got married and divorced 3 times. She wasn’t someone who liked to be tied down to one person or one thing clearly.
This is an ARC so I anticipate when it is released it will go down well with contemporary readers of Japanese lit, because of the themes of the book covers. Uno Chiyo was a trailblazer for female writers, and similarly to Taeko Kono and Izumi Suzuki, she defied societal norms of the time she was writing. Exploring sexual desire and female independence. Showing that women don’t need to get married and have kids like society expects them to. And I think this will resonate with today’s readers with Japanese translated lit being flooded with strong female voices like Kawakami, Murata, Ogawa, Kirino, Imamura etc etc. it’s a perfect time for this book to come into translation.
However, despite the fact that I admire Chiyo’s intentions and her voice in this book, for me it just doesn’t fully work. The main reason being it’s around 160 pages, maybe a 2/3 hour read. And just too much happens. I never felt emotionally invested because something would happen and there’s be little time to think about it cause now we are somewhere else. For example, Kazue gets a job teaching, resigns, moves to Korea, and comes back, in about 16 pages. And as much I like the idea of this exploration of why Kazue followed this life, was it because of her father, or was it because of something else inside her, overall I just couldn’t get invested.
But thanks to @netgalley and @pushkin_press for letting me read this

I found the concept of this book really interesting. It’s based on the authors own past, but told in the third person.
I enjoyed seeing what life was like for women at the time, and I liked seeing how the present day Kazue reflected on her past experiences and thoughts.

There was something about the writing that just didn’t connect with me though. I don’t know whether that was because of the way it was translated or if I would’ve felt the same with the original, but the writing style just felt too direct at points.

I recommend this to people who are looking for a quick read and enjoy reading about women through history/ the expectations society put on them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for an ARC!

Genre: Japanese semi-autobiographical/Fiction
Mood: Reflective, Emotional, Informative
Seasonal read: Any Season
Rating: 3.75/5 stars

"If others do to her what she has done to someone else, she does not hate them for it. After all, Kazue was never conscious of what she was doing. She simply took what life had to offer, with no more resistance than if she were being buffeted along by the wind."

This story is referred to as an "I-novel" that is neither fully an autobiography or work of fiction. The books narrator is exploring the life of Kazue and analysing the distinctly non-traditional choices she made, especially in regards to men, from her childhood until her 30's.

When Kazue's iron fisted father dies, she decides early on that she doesn't want to be tied down in a marriage and wants to live her life with complete freedom experiencing anything that was previously deemed forbidden.

Generally speaking, I applauded Kazue for being so bold in her choices and living her life with no restraints. However I found occasionally she was far too impulsive and almost unlikable, not giving any thought as to who she would hurt with her actions. Her redeeming factor was that she would make no excuses and gracefully accept the consequences of her choices.

This was a great read for gaining some insight as to what was expected of women in Japan in the early 1900's. Though I do believe some of the Authors/Kazue's choices would still be considered controversial today! 😅

Thank you so much to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for a honest review!

This short novella blends reality and fiction in the recounting of the life of Kazue, from her youth in relative poverty to her middle age, Kazue drifts between partners and places without a care for the judgments of the society and people around her. Transgressive for it's time, The Story of a Single Woman offers a lens into the past, exploring attitudes towards marriage, women, and independent thinkers in a tightly packed novel that wastes no words.