In a photo studio located on the boundary between life and death, Mr. Hirasaka helps newly deceased souls move on by having them choose photos from their life to view on a spinning lantern. Sanaka Hiiragi's The Lantern of Lost Memories, translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, weaves Hirasaka's work through the stories of three souls passing through his studio for an affecting rumination on life, purpose, and the memories that hold it all together.
These souls led very different lives, but Hirasaka treats them all with genuine empathy: a woman named Hatsue Yagi who died at 92; yakuza boss Shohei Waniguchi, murdered at age 47; and Mitsuru Yamada, a young girl whose death was caused by horrific abuse. Hatsue and Waniguchi discover that their most important photos are faded, and Hirasaka offers to take them back in time armed with a camera of their choice to recapture those moments for their lanterns. While he helps others review their memories through photos, Hirasaka himself can't remember anything and has no photos of his own--except one ordinary one whose story he doesn't know. He spends his existence ushering people through the studio, all the while waiting for someone who might trigger his memories.
Hiiragi captures the special quality of a single moment in life with equal parts pathos and joy as the deceased reminisce and watch their past selves from a distance. Though filled with surprises, The Lantern of Lost Memories is the perfect cozy novel. --Dainy Bernstein, freelance reviewer