"This is... a fairy tale of sorts," writes author Katherine Min (Secondhand World) in a mischievous note to her posthumously published novel, The Fetishist. "And because it is a fairy tale, it has a happy ending... depending on where you put THE END." Min opens with Japanese American punk musician Kyoko, who's planning to avenge her mother Emi's suicide by punishing the fickle (white) Lothario who discarded her. Kyoko is "more Hello Kitty than killer," but murdering Daniel is the only way to alleviate the anger, hate, and grief that's "deformed" her young life.
Since that brief affair with Emi, Daniel has devolved from a violinist of some renown to performing private concerts for the "dying and newly dead"; in middle age, though, he's still seducing young (Asian) women. On the other side of the country, Korean American cellist Alma, Daniel's vibrant, singular soulmate who he irrevocably lost 20 years ago because of his careless liaison with Emi, is painfully succumbing to the MS that's already robbed her of her precious music.
Wending back and forth over decades, Min reveals these intertwined lives: desperate Emi killed by love, frenzied Kyoko trapped in the past, fading Alma isolated by regret and illness. What binds them together is Daniel, the titular fetishist. Min's focus is magnificently aimed at dissecting, confronting, and exposing the fetishization of Asian women, but she never loses sight of engaging, inventive, playful storytelling. Balancing biting humor, wrenching despair, and unexpected redemption, Min radiantly succeeds in delivering that promised (mostly, cautiously) happy ending. --Terry Hong