Solanin
- ISBN
- 9781421523217
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 432
Solanin is the paperback to choose for Meiko Inoue’s story of work and life after college. VIZ’s synopsis begins with a job she dislikes and a boyfriend whose freelance income cannot cover rent. That makes the buying choice a question of subject: ordinary employment and dependence, rather than a premise built around an exceptional vocation. The publisher lists this paperback at 432 pages; its separate digital product, Solanin: an epilogue, is a later follow-up. Start with the book titled simply Solanin.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Meiko's opening predicament makes financial independence an awkward measure of adulthood. Her office job pays while Naruo's illustration work cannot support his rent, but earning enough has not made her satisfied with her own work. Income distinguishes their positions without solving the question of how either should live. The arrangement also gives their relationship a material imbalance: her apartment absorbs the shortfall in his earnings. That is a concrete reason to choose this story of adulthood. Read the main book before considering the separately sold epilogue, which VIZ places ten years later; its shared title does not make it an interchangeable edition.
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