I Called Him Necktie — Milena Michiko Flasar

“Probe[s] deeply below the surfaces of familiar Japanese stereotypes . . . A compassionate and insightful story of dysfunction, despair and friendship” (Ruth Ozeki, award-winning author of A Tale for the Time Being).
 
Twenty-year-old Taguchi Hiro has spent the last two years of his life living as a hikikomori -- a shut-in who never leaves his room and has no human interaction -- in his parents' home in Tokyo. As Hiro tentatively decides to reenter the world, he spends his days observing life around him from a park bench. Gradually, he makes friends with Ohara Tetsu, a middle-aged salaryman who has lost his job but can't bring himself to tell his wife, who shows up every day in a suit and tie to pass the time on a nearby bench. As Hiro and Tetsu cautiously open up to each other, they discover in their sadness a common bond. Regrets and disappointments, as well as hopes and dreams, come to the surface until both find the strength to somehow give a new start to their lives. This beautiful novel is moving, unforgettable, and full of surprises. The reader turns the last page feeling that a small triumph has occurred.
 
“The best of the best from this year's bountiful harvest of uncommonly strange offerings . . . Deeply original.” -- O, The Oprah Magazine
 
“Exceptional . . . In today's less-than-brave new world in which sincere human interaction is disappearing even as the numbers of so-called ‘friends' are multiplying, Necktie is a piercing reminder to acknowledge, nurture, and share our humanity.” -- BookDragon
 
“The quiet reflection of this jewel of a novel is revelatory, redemptive and hypnotic until the last word.” -- Kirkus Reviews