Wildcat Dome: A Novel

A powerful reckoning with empire, catastrophe, trauma, and truth-telling, Yuko Tsushima's sweeping and consuming novel, Wildcat Dome, is an epic exploration of postwar Japan. As children, Mitch and Yonko were inseparable, raised together in an orphanage outside Tokyo. However, ever since the sudden death of Mitch's brother, the two have been mourning in their private ways, drifting apart and occupying separate worlds.

A year has passed since Mitch and Yonko last spoke. But in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, they choose to reunite, finding each other in a city undone by disaster. Though they have drifted apart, they remain bound together by a profound and unspeakable tragedy they witnessed long ago – a tragedy they have kept secret their entire lives. This unspoken event haunts them, repeating itself like history.

Wildcat Dome is a metaphysical saga of postwar Japan, a powerful reckoning with the nation's past. It is a hugely ambitious exploration of denial, of the ways in which countries and their citizens avoid telling the truth – a tale of guilt, loss, and inevitable reckoning. Through the intertwined stories of Mitch and Yonko, Tsushima grapples with the complex legacies of empire, the trauma of catastrophic events, and the human impulse to conceal painful realities.

At its core, Wildcat Dome is a novel about the weight of the past and the profound consequences of silence. As Mitch and Yonko are forced to confront the ghosts that have long divided them, they must also reckon with the larger societal forces that have shaped their nation and their lives. Tsushima's masterful storytelling weaves together personal narratives and broader historical currents, creating a work that is both intimately human and profoundly resonant.

Through the lens of Mitch and Yonko's personal journeys, Wildcat Dome offers a searing indictment of the ways in which power, denial, and the avoidance of truth can ripple through generations. It is a novel that demands reckoning, that challenges readers to confront the uncomfortable realities that so often go unspoken. Ultimately, Wildcat Dome is a work of profound depth and significance, a literary masterpiece that illuminates the complex and haunting legacy of postwar Japan.

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