(4 stars) Plum Rains by Andromeda Romano-Lax
I read this on ClaireBadger’s recommendation (ClaireBadger, you are correct — Andromeda Romano-Lax has the coolest name EVER) and really enjoyed it. It took a little bit to get me hooked, but once it did — man, I couldn’t put this one down.
Set about 10 years in the future, Plum Rains introduces us to a version of Japan only slightly different than our own. Technology and society have evolved, of course, and the biggest change as demonstrated by the book has to do with healthcare. Due to a variety of factors (toxic contamination is mentioned frequently), birthrates are staggeringly low. But due to advances in healthcare, people are living longer and longer. This has created a need for outside workers — immigrants brought in from countries like the Philippines to care for elder Japanese who do not have generations of family watching after them. It has also created advances in healthcare technology, including implanted scanning devices and healthcare robots. It’s within this setting that we meet our characters — Sayoko, an elderly woman who refuses to embrace new technologies; Angelica, her Filipina nurse; and Hiko, a robot caretaker who has insinuated himself into their lives.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book, and at first, I was really unsettled by Hiko and his role in their lives. But as I came to know him (and Angelica and Sayoko do as well), it was easier to see him as a character, not a machine. Much of the book focuses on Sayoko’s past, which she reveals piece by pieces to Hiko, as well as Angelica’s troubles as a foreign worker. I felt very involved with the three of them by the end, and had trouble accepting that the book was over!