Shadow Life follows Kumiko, a 76-year-old lady who has rejected the assisted living home her daughters wanted to send her to, venturing off to find her own apartment and make her own way. She doesn’t tell her daughters where she is (despite one’s persistent pestering) and is determined to make it clear than she is capable of living alone, but things are not quite simple.
Kumiko is haunted, quite literally by death. The mysterious shadow follows her throughout the graphic novel, its little minions hiding her pills and causing her to injure herself. Armed with a hoover and stubborn determination, Kumiko will be damned if death takes her yet.
The novel is easy to get through, many pages depicting just images of Kumiko’s daily routine, or the actions of the mysterious shadows that follow her. It’s great to read from the POV of an older character too, particularly an older queer character. There is a nice author’s note at the back which touches on why Hiromi Goto made the choice to have a 76-year-old as a protagonist.
Kumiko was married, but before that her first love was Alice. They reunite in the novel, talk about their history and, to avoid spoiling too much, find their way back to one another in the end, but only after a very real brush with death. The flashbacks to their younger years were nicely done, and I appreciate that the fact Kumiko is bi is spoken about, and the fact she is clear that she loved her former husband Samuel, and Alice both.
There is humour that runs throughout the novel, Kumiko is incredibly no-nonsense, especially when it comes to the well-meaning harassment from her eldest daughter. I can completely understand why she goes to the lengths she does to try and ensure her mother is okay, but she is incredibly dramatic about it!
I would definitely recommend picking this one up!
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