The Japanese Lover (Original Spanish title: El amante japonés) is a 2015 novel by Isabel Allende.
It's 2010. Twenty-three-year-old Irina Bazili starts working at a geriatric facility. One of the residents, Alma Belasco (née Mendel) hires Irina as a personal assistant. During the next three years, Irina forms a friendship with Alma's grandson Seth. The pair try to find out more about Alma, who was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in the US by her Polish parents during WWII, as well as her relationship with the family gardener's youngest son, Ichimei Fukuda.
Tropes present in this work:
- The Atoner: Irina was raised by her grandparents in a village in Moldavia and feels bad about leaving them behind when she emigrated to the US. Her work at Lark House allows her to give the resident the care and attention she did not get to give her grandparents.
- Blaming the Victim: When Radmila finds out about her husband exploiting his stepdaughter to produce child porn, she proceeds to beat up her child, calling her a whore for seducing the man. What makes this even worse is that Radmila herself was a victim of Human Traffickers as a teen.
- Convenient Miscarriage: Alma becomes pregnant and Ichimei's the father. She marries Nathaniel, but she miscarriages in her fifth month. Eventually she and her husband have a child of their own.
- A Dog Named "Dog": A feline version. Before the Fukudas report for relocation, Ichimei leaves Neko, the family cat in Alma's care. Neko means "cat" in Japanese.
- Drives Like Crazy: Part of Irina's job is to pay Alma's traffic tickets because the octogenarian treats traffic laws as if they were optional.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: Irina learns enough phrases in French and Spanish that she ingratiates herself with her co-workers, most of whom come from Mexico, Guatemala, and Haiti and earn low wages. There is Lupita Farías, the lead of the housekeeping team, who is described as having the face of an Olmec sculpture. There is also Haitian caregiver Jean Daniel.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: A pregnant Alma (the father is Ichimei) arranges to have one in Tijuana, Mexico. Nathaniel is shocked but he drives her down. At the last minute, after she is offered tequila in lieu of painkillers, he announces they are getting married and having the baby.
- Hates Being Touched: Seth notices this about Irina. It takes a very long time for her to reveal the reason: her stepfather forced her to participate in child porn, and she remains traumatized.
- Human Traffickers: While living in Moldavia, Radmila meets a woman who promises a lucrative job as a server. She ends up as a prisoner in a bordello in Turkey for two years until she is able to escape.
- Older Than They Look: Irina is very short and thin. She is described as looking like a malnourished eight-year-old boy at the age of twelve.
- Raised by Grandparents: Irina is raised in a Moldavian village by her grandparents Petruta and Costea until the age of twelve, when her mother makes arrangements for her daughter to come live with her and her American husband.
