Isolation and Loneliness

Throughout the novel, the author explores the ways in which loneliness might impact the individual’s relationships with others and the world around her via the main character Fuyuko’s isolated circumstances. At the start of the novel, when Kyoko offers Fuyuko the part time freelancing job, the opportunity appeals to her. Ever since she started proofreading, she “stopped watching TV” and avoided reading “books or listen[ing] to music” (17). She goes on to say, “I had no friends to go out to eat with or to chat with for hours over the phone . . . I never brought work home, and was able to take care of all of my responsibilities, research included, during working hours. At the latest I was always home by eight . . . after which I had nothing else to do” (17). The freelance proofreading job, therefore, grants Fuyuko something with which to fill...