Jeff Backhaus

Hikikomori, n. literally pulling inward; refers to those who withdraw from society.

Some novelists can shrink the world down to a very small place and still create a rich, detailed, and often beautiful universe. This is the story of a young American father, Thomas, and his wife, Silke. When their small son was killed in a tragic accident, Thomas cannot forgive himself and becomes ‘hikikomori’ - a complete recluse who has withdrawn into his room and away from human interaction. After several years, Silke is desperate when Thomas will literally do no more than occasionally speak through his locked door. She makes one last, extreme effort to draw Thomas out by hiring Megumi, a young Japanese immigrant. Megumi acts as a ‘rental sister’, a special sort of female outreach counselor who patiently leads Thomas back from his seclusion.

The novel is unique and nuanced and written with complete control and lyricism and depth of feeling. How does Silke feel to lose her husband within their own home? How does Megumi feel to be a rental sister with her own personal losses and sacrifices? And Thomas… the author allows us into Thomas’s mind and heart, an experience of overwhelming guilt but leading to hope and finally back to love…but with Silke or with Megumi?

Hikikomori and the Rental Sister is not a long story but many of the best novels are not. The publisher created a perfect, beautiful, small volume and within, Jeff Backhaus’s debut is memorable and distinctive. His readers will be patiently awaiting his next.… (more)