Plum Rains

Plum Rains by Andromeda Romano-Lax, 389 pages

In 2029 Tokyo, the population is aging but not reproducing. Immigrant healthcare workers are flooding into the city in an attempt to fill the needs of the centenarians, though they're also sneered at by Japanese citizens. It is in this climate that we find Angelica, a Filipino nurse, caring for Sayoko, a secretive Japanese woman who is about to celebrate her 100th birthday. Just before the celebration, Sayoko receives the gift of a prototype robot, designed to be a companion and carer specifically tailored to her. Already feeling threatened by her immigrant status, Angelica sees this new "gift" as another threat, particularly when she notices Sayoko's immediate attachment to the robot, despite Sayoko's usual protestations against technology.

On the face of it, this is a book about the role of technology and caregivers in an aging society. But this multi-faceted novel is really a discussion of women's roles, of burying the past, of regret, and yes, of technology possibly replacing human roles. It took a bit for me to get into this, but once I did, I very much enjoyed it. The characters are wonderfully multifaceted (even Hiro, the prototype robot) and the interweaving stories are excellently told.