A wonderful collection of short stories about women navigating work, love, loneliness, and all the weird, messy in-betweens. The characters aren’t perfect (far from it!), but that’s what makes them feel real. Some stories made me laugh, others made me pause and go, “Oof, I’ve been there.”

Yamamoto writes with this cool, honest tone that doesn’t try to explain or fix anything, she just lets the women be. It’s sharp, relatable, and oddly comforting if you’ve ever tried to juggle career expectations and real life.

A quick, thought-provoking read I’d definitely recommend to friends over brunch.

I didn’t think I’d feel this seen by a book that came out more than twenty years ago, in a completely different cultural setting, but here we are.

The Dilemmas of Working Women is… I don’t know, like opening a drawer that I’ve been keeping shut for years. Every story has this little "violence" in it—the kind you feel when you’re trying to do everything "right" as a woman who works, who wants to be something more than her job, but who is constantly measured against some invisible scorecard.

Reading it, I kept thinking of how much of myself I’ve cut into neat, presentable pieces just to fit into work spaces, social spaces, family spaces. Yamamoto writes these women as if she’s been sitting beside them all their lives, taking notes on all the humiliations that seem small from the outside but stack up into a kind of existential exhaustion. And she does it without any melodrama. It’s very Japanese in that way; so much restraint, but also so much bite if you slow down and listen to the words.

The first story, <i>Naked</i>, completely gutted me. This woman whose life has come apart, who is left with nothing but this absurd, almost pathetic craft project, and somehow that becomes a way of existing. And then <i>Planarian</i>—God, that one. The idea of wanting to be a flatworm just so you can keep regenerating, keep coming back even when life slices you into pieces. It sounds ridiculous until you realize, oh, I’ve wished for that too, just in a less literal way.

There’s a part of me that envies how Japanese literature can hold contradictions like this: deadpan humor and real despair, longing and resignation, all without trying to resolve it. I think that’s why it feels so modern even now. There’s no moralizing, no "you can do it!!" pep talk. It just lets these women be messy and unfinished and quietly angry.

As someone who works (and maybe overworks), I felt myself reading with my whole body. It’s not a loud kind of identification, more like a low hum under the skin: yes, this is how it feels to live like this. And there’s also something weirdly comforting in realizing that women halfway across the world, decades ago, were already negotiating these same unspoken bargains with the world.

This is the kind of book I’ll be thinking about when I’m on my commute, or sitting in another meeting where I feel like a stranger in my own life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this collection of short stories which all focus on (not surprisingly) the dilemmas of the working woman in Japan.

All the stories have something to recommend them dealing with various aspects of a woman's life - Izumi in Naked who, having divorced, finds herself unable to motivate herself to go back to any meaningful employment; Haruka in Planarian who has had breast cancer but, despite being clear, continues to use it as a reason not to stick at any work to Sumie in A Tomorrow Full of Love, who lives a precarious lifestyle moving where she likes, with whom she likes and doing whatever job suits her at the time.

The thing I liked about all the women is that they were all so unapologetic to the men/parents in their lives. They wanted to live their way and they did.

Definitely a very interesting look at modern women in the workplace. I would recommend this collection.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Brown Book Group for the advance review copy.

Brilliant! Illuminating five short stories of five very different women and how they navigate the situations they are in. The Translator's Afterword also made for great reading.

An English translation of the Japanese bestseller. Five short stories following women in modern Japan as they navigate their careers, relationships and family lives.

Naked: Izumi, divorced and unemployed, struggles to adjust to her new life.
Planarian: Haruka, recently recovered from cancer but everyone thinks she needs to forget about it and move on.
Here Which is Nowhere: Kato, a working woman who is largely ignored by her children and husband.
The Dilemmas of Working Women: Mito, deciding whether or not to accept her boyfriend’s marriage proposal despite the fact that she has been cheating on him for months.
A Tomorrow Full of Love: Sumie, a palm-reader who rejects societal expectations.

My favourites were Naked and Planarian.

My main take away from this collection is how different attitudes toward romantic relationships, sex, and work is for women in Japan compared to in the UK. It was difficult for me to relate to a lot of the views presented throughout the book, however, it was incredibly interesting to read about everyday life for women in a different culture to mine, although these particular stories were rather downbeat and mundane.

Having said that, I did enjoy it. Where this book falls down is with the narration of each story. There is no discernible difference between each narrative voice, despite being told from the point of view of very different characters. It is possible that this element has been lost in the translation, but it made it very difficult to differentiate between the characters in each story. The only way I knew that I was reading the next story was when character names suddenly changed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Japanese novels somehow give me that very slow calming feeling when I read, is it the way of writing or is it just the way things go? Maybe one thing different is there are never vulgarities (in most of the books I have encountered so far). There are never really much slang as well, just old school proper language to write the story. Perhaps I am too much of a romantic, but this really gives the story a different mood and a different pace. And the stories were relatable, real, and I could imagine each of the the different characters stuck in their dilemmas.

At first I was slightly confused if the stories were of the same person, or linked, but I realised they were not, but otherwise, I enjoyed the book.

This book consists of 5 short stories centred on women facing different difficulties in their lives.
I didn't initially realise this was written in 2000, as I think most of it still rings true these days.
The book felt a bit mundane which I realise was the point. I didn't mind it - I'd round up to 3.5 stars if I could.

Five different women navigating their different lives, caught in perfect moments by the author. I really do enjoy reading about different cultures especially Japan, whereas life is not the same, it is the same. 4 stars. Recommend.

5 short stories which are unconnected, the first 4 featuring women, the last a man.

Out of all the stories the first was definitely my favourite. This one felt the closest to the title of the book and what I had expected. The second was the worst IMO, as the main character was insufferable. All of the stories feature people struggling with expectations and passivity, but that one took it to another level.

I wish that there had been different conclusions to some, particularly number 3, but at the same time I respect the decision to end them this way. Overall, this was a quick and unusual read which turned out to be very different than I had expected; this is not the typical translated happy book I’ve read a lot of.

Exactly as described on the tin, 'The Dilemmas of Working Women' is a collection of short stories about common problems/decisions women need to make just in life, in general. Granted there are a couple of cultural differences, but I thought the stories felt very true to the typical female experience in sometimes, what feels like a world that doesn't understand us. From a housewife who "has all the time in the world" to an unemployed divorcee struggling to find motivation, I could relate to aspects of all of these short stories and had an enjoyable time reading each one. One caveat to this book however (and I think this goes for a lot of Japanese translated books) is that the writing is quite direct and straightforward, so if you're looking for more descriptive and poetic language, I don't think this would be one for you.

A series of short stories reflecting the complications of modern life in Japan. Could they be relatable to modern life in the west? My feeling is that these are quite culturally specific in time and place. There are some issues,particularly related to romantic love which are dealt with openly, but coyly referred to like ‘using professionals’ instead of talking of prostitution. Sex is something which is spoken about rather coldly, and an inevitable end to an evening, even between strangers. In most of these stories there is detachment and disappointments, a gulf of misunderstanding and dishonesty. Each of these stories leave you wanting more. There is nothing wrapped up about their endings, they leave the reader forced to make her own conclusions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

I did not realise that these are unconnected short stories, i thought the book was about a group of friends interacting or perhaps stories from each point of view but with mentions of the other characters.

The stories are interesting giving some insight to Japanese culture but I felt detached from all the characters and the stories just stop with no clear indication of what will happen next to the characters. I found this unsatisfying as I felt I did not really know the characters well enough to even hazard a guess at how their lives might unfold. As in the Convenience Store woman there seems to be a bleakness and hopelessness in these stories, I don't know if that is a Japanese thing but it is a bit unnerving.

The blurb says that the stories are funny/witty; I did not notice any humour or particular wit but maybe that is just me.

This is one of those translated books that doesn't gel with me for some reason. I thought it was a story with 5 women telling their own stories and then at some point they do meet but instead is just different short stories. I just found the stories not so appealing to me, maybe is the translation? Not sure.

The thing I love about novels and short stories like these by Japanese authors is that they convey social anxieties and the work/life balance so openly and blatantly that it leaves soooo much room for your own thoughts and feelings. Books like this and Convenience Store Woman are gifts because of the gaps they leave for you to fill.

Fumio Yamamoto’s The Dilemmas of Working Women is a sharp, emotionally resonant collection of five short stories that delve into the complexities of modern womanhood in Japan. Originally published in 2000 and newly translated into English, the book captures the quiet struggles of characters navigating societal expectations around work, marriage, and personal identity.
Each story offers a unique perspective—four from women, one from a man—ranging from a breast cancer survivor contemplating her altered body to a mother overwhelmed by domestic life. Yamamoto's writing is dryly humorous, poignant, and strikingly observant.

The dilemmas of working women is a collection of short stories centered around the lives of unconventional and complex women. Each individual story displays a women whom at one point in time lived an ordinary life and has since strayed considerably from this path. The protagonists and supporting female characters in these chapters portray a wide variety of ages from children to the elderly.

In addition, they have vastly different personalities and ways of life, from full time housewife to unemployed chronically ill patient. This book, thought published originally in 2000, provides a culturally relevant commentary on ever evolving gender roles within the context of a society that is slow to recognise and accommodate any divergence from traditional norms. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I thought this was going to be one story about five women, or five interlocking long short stories, but in fact it was five long short stories with no overlap or interaction. I preferred the first one, but that might have been down to my growing realisation that the others weren't linked. The last one being narrated by a man seemed a bit odd. But it's always good to have Japanese books highlighting women's lives and the patriarchal society translated and shared.

A collection of short stories. The title of the book is the title of one of the stories.

If you've previously read Japanese fiction about magical cats and coffee shops, then this is a completely different level of fiction. A glimpse into lives of real women in Japan, albeit 25 years ago. However, in my opinion this could have been written today. The only thing I noticed was the absence of continued reference to technology, particularly mobile phones and social media.

The stories are brilliantly written (and translated). It felt like you were looking at life rather than reading a story. Each woman revealing her flaws and strengths, but not in a stylised way. In the last story the narrator is a man, which threw me as the other stories are narrated by a woman. It took me a minute to get that straight in my head.

I'm not the biggest fan of short stories, but these all felt a lot longer and so enjoyable. There was a depth achieved which is difficult to find when reading a smaller number of words. Whilst not neatly sewn up they all made me think about what came next.

There is also some insight into the author by the translator at the end of the book.

The Dilemmas of Working Women consisted of five stories written by Fumio Yamamoto, originally published in 2000 but first translated to English in 2025: Naked, Planarian, Here Which is Nowhere, The Dilemmas of Working Women, and A Tomorrow Full of Love. All of them offered slightly off-kilter point-of-views of life, kind of from-the-outside-looking-in but not really: the characters had been "normal" (or "lived normally") once but not anymore. I really liked that immediately into each story you just get the characters' archetype, like, you know these types of people in real life. The first story was my favorite (absolutely obsessed with the winner-loser dichotomy in this one), the second and third stories were very well-written but upsetting, the fourth story left me a bit confused, and the fifth story was ok. I also liked how each of the story ended, the author got such a way of cutting the narrative to a close. The title of the book is slightly misleading because it was just the title of one of the stories, and not all of the stories focused on employment although all of them do relate to work or a job.

eARC provided by NetGalley & Little, Brown Book Group UK.

This book is a series of short stories outlining the day to day lives of women in Japan.. I found the book compelling reading. It gave insight into the culture around women of which there are similarities i am sure world wide. The bio about the author was also worth reading to put everything in context.