Sympathy Tower Tokyo

Qudan’s provocative English-language debut, set in near-future Japan, centers around an architect grappling with ethical and philosophical questions about her latest project. It begins in 2026, when 37-year-old Sara Machina receives a career-making opportunity to design a new Tokyo landmark: a prison in the form of a comfortable apartment tower. The project draws on the theories of a sociologist who argued that criminals should be rebranded as victims rather than perpetrators, due to structural issues such as income inequality that led them to crime. While Sara works on her proposal, she begins a relationship with handsome store clerk Takt, who is much younger than her. After the tower opens in 2030, Takt takes a job there as a “supporter,” a euphemism for guard, and gives a tour to Max Klein, an American journalist. Max also interviews Sara, who is alternately celebrated and vilified online, “described as both a goddess who’d brought beauty and peace to Tokyo and a witch whose tower had plunged society into confusion.” The blend of voices, including passages generated by ChatGPT as Takt tailors his correspondence with Max and Sara uses the platform to work through her conflicted thoughts about the tower, offers an intriguing window into the controversy following the tower’s opening. It’s a disarming novel of ideas. (Sept.)