“Provocative…Masterfully subtle.” — The New York Times “An architectural feat in itself.” —
Financial Times The award-winning bestselling Japanese phenomenon: a speculative
prophetic novel following a young and brilliant celebrity architect in Tokyo who takes on her
most controversial project yet—perfect for readers of Klara and the Sun and Chain-Gang
All-Stars . Welcome to the Japan of tomorrow. Here the practice of radical sympathy toward
criminals has become normalized. The incarcerated are considered victims influenced by their
environments to commit crime and are labeled accordingly as Homo miserabilis . A grand yet
controversial skyscraper in the heart of Tokyo is planned to house lawbreakers in
compassionate comfort—Sympathy Tower Tokyo. Acclaimed architect Sara Machina has been tasked
with designing the city’s new centerpiece but is filled with doubt. Haunted by a terrible crime
she experienced as a young girl she wonders if she might inherently disagree with the values
of the project which should be the pinnacle of her career. As Sara grapples with these
conflicting emotions her relationship with her gorgeous—and much younger—boyfriend grows
increasingly strained. In search of solace and in need of creative inspiration Sara turns to
the knowing words of an AI chatbot… The recipient of Japan’s highest literary prize Sympathy
Tower Tokyo is an extraordinary novel from one of the most exciting new global voices. Partly
inspired by conversations with an artificial intelligence it offers an urgent and brilliant
defense of the power of language written by humans a moving exploration of the imaginative
impulse and an often hilarious send-up of our modern world’s unrelenting conformity.
