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WORK TITLE: The Lost Souls of Benzaiten
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WEBSITE: https://www.kellymurashige.com/
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Born in HI.
EDUCATION:Writer.
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Booklist, June 1, 2024, Kathleen Breitenbach, review of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, p. 86.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2024, review of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten.
Publishers Weekly, April 29, 2024, review of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, p. 62.
ONLINE
Kelly Murashige website, https://www.kellymurashige.com (January 2, 2025).
Shelf Awareness, https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ (July 24, 2024), author interview.
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Kelly Murashige (she/her) primarily writes contemporary fiction with fantastical twists rooted in Japanese mythology and culture. Though she can be shy, she loves obsessing over books and video games.
Her debut YA contemporary fantasy novel, The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, released on July 23, 2024 with Soho Teen. You can read all updates in her newsletter here.
MG/YA Literary Agents: Savannah Brooks (on medical leave) and Kate Schafer Testerman at KT Literary
Adult Literary Agent: Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger
Film Agent: Dana Spector at Creative Artists Agency
Shelf Awareness for Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Reading with... Kelly Murashige
Kelly Murashige, the author of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten (Soho Teen, July 23, 2024), was born and raised in Hawai'i. She primarily writes contemporary fiction rooted in Japanese mythology and culture that includes fantastical twists. At this very moment, she is likely writing, reading, playing games, or inadvertently putting her foot in her mouth.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
A girl who stops speaking after a friendship breakup wishes to become a robot vacuum cleaner and accidentally summons a quirky Japanese deity.
On your nightstand now:
I just finished Funny Story by Emily Henry and have a whole list of books I'm about to start.
Favorite book when you were a child:
When I was really little, I loved Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish and essentially anything from Kevin Henkes, especially Wemberly Worried (I worried all the time--and still do to this day). From there, it was Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking books and Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones series. Come middle school, it was Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Suzanne Collins's the Hunger Games.
Your top five authors:
Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, Sarah Dessen, Sylvia Plath, and Zack Smedley. I would list at least five more if I could. I discovered Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, and Sarah Dessen in elementary and middle school, and they all helped shape me into the reader I am today. I started reading Sylvia Plath in college and fell in love with her honesty. And Zack Smedley crafts these stories that just stick with you. I want to reread his work all the time.
Book you've faked reading:
This is embarrassing, but in elementary school, I pretended I knew the Harry Potter series like the back of my hand. I never actually read any of them. I'm so sorry for lying all these years.
Book you're an evangelist for:
I begged my mom to read Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Considering she's now trying to get her friends to read it, I think it's safe to say I converted her.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Middle school me was intrigued. The cover is stunning enough at first glance, with that bright red, definitely-hurts-your-feet heel, but when I saw the strange, robotic anatomy in the leg, I had to know more.
Book you hid from your parents:
Probably a Riley Sager thriller. My mom isn't a big thriller fan, especially when it's gory or scary, but thrillers always get me out of reading slumps. Sometimes, either when I have a lot going on or after I finish a great book, I basically forget how to read. Thrillers have a way of pulling me back in. I usually end up staying up past midnight to finish reading, even though that's just about the worst time to read books like that.
Book that changed your life:
Honestly, what book hasn't changed my life? I think I have to give this one to either Sarah Dessen's Just Listen or The Truth About Forever, which served as my introductions to YA fiction. My older cousins gave me their copies--along with a lot of their clothes, which is the only reason I had any sense of style whatsoever--and though I think I was a little younger than the target audience, I immediately fell in love with Dessen's writing style, characterization, and quiet yet beautiful metaphors. From then on, I started scanning shelves for books like hers.
Favorite line from a book:
"We accept the love we think we deserve." --from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
I have come back to this quote over and over. Its meaning has evolved for me over time, but I have never forgotten it. A lot of us had that phase in life where we told ourselves something was love when everyone around us could tell it wasn't. More than that, though, I think we've all been that person trying to tell the people we love that they deserve so much better.
Five books you'll never part with:
Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun; Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar; my original copy of Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay; my gifted copy of Jojo Moyes's Me Before You; and my incredibly old hand-me-down copy of The Truth About Forever.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Lisabeth Posthuma's Baby & Solo. At the same time, though, I think I read it right when I needed to. There's one part near the end that made me put my head down and weep. So read it. Just maybe not in public.
Murashige, Kelly THE LOST SOULS OF BENZAITEN Soho Teen (Teen None) $19.99 7, 23 ISBN: 9781641295741
When 17-year-old Machi makes a wish at an abandoned shrine, the last thing she expects is for a god to appear.
It's been a year since Machi stopped talking. No one can make her explain why: not her parents, not the many therapists she's seen, and definitely not Sunny and Angel, her former friends. When Machi's latest therapist suggests that she explore someplace new, Japanese American Machi begrudgingly visits a Shinto shrine, where she prays to be transformed into a robot vacuum cleaner. This unusual request catches the attention of Benzaiten, the shrine's deity who's a God of Fortune. She reveals herself to Machi but refuses to grant her wish. Instead, Benzaiten asks Machi to give her until Tanabata, the summer Star Festival that's just five weeks away, to help her appreciate being human and find her voice. A series of magical field trips ensue, during which Benzaiten demonstrates an affinity for the stranded spirits of deceased children. Despite trying to stay aloof, Machi slowly grows attached to the beautiful, charming Benzaiten. But when the god's affection for an infant spirit turns obsessive, Machi finds herself once more facing her biggest fear: rejection. The story takes a compassionate and introspective approach to emotional trauma in the wake of a codependent friendship. As a narrator, Machi is appealingly wry, expressive, and self-aware. Journal entries interspersed throughout help readers piece together the events that led up to Machi's silence.
Written with tenderness and vivid emotion. (content warning) (Fabulism. 12-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Murashige, Kelly: THE LOST SOULS OF BENZAITEN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A793537121/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=12ce488a. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
The Lost Souls of Benzaiten
Kelly Murashige. Soho, $19.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-64129-574-1
Murashige's fantasy debut follows an outcast teen who, after striking a deal with a Japanese god of fortune, embarks on a transformative journey to discover life's beauty. Following a friendship fallout, 17-year-old Machi lost "the will to speak." Now, she ardently wishes she was a robot vacuum cleaner instead of a person: "They're treated like humans... but no one expects them to be anything more than what they are." Unexpectedly, the goddess Benzaiten appears and counters Machi's prayer with a plea that she "realize the beauty of being human and rediscover my voice." With each new encounter on Machi's quest--and each new question posed by her therapist throughout--Machi comes to accept her broken relationships as well as herself. This heartfelt and original exploration of one teen's reasoning for her way of thinking and her growth into a new version of herself focuses on connection and communication in fun, fantastical ways. Murashige's fresh blend of Japanese mythology and frank depictions of mental health challenges rendered via simple prose allow readers to relate to Machi's emotions and struggles and gain new perspective into the complexity of human nature. Ages 14-up. Agent: Savannah Brooks, KT Literary. (July)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"The Lost Souls of Benzaiten." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 17, 29 Apr. 2024, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A799109011/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5049635c. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
The Lost Souls of Benzaiten. By Kelly Murashige. July 2024. 304P. Soho Teen, $19.99 (9781641295741). Gr. 9-12.
After a particularly brutal friendship breakup, Machi stopped speaking, and she's struggled with her mental health ever since. Now on her seventh therapist and with her parents out of town for weeks, she impulsively stops in an out-of-the-way temple and prays to become a robot vacuum cleaner. The outlandish request brings the Japanese goddess Benzaiten--one of the seven gods of fortune typically tasked with sending spirits of dead children on their way--back to Earth and on a quest to reconnect Machi with hope and other people. Murashige's debut YA novel inventively weaves Japanese mythology and dark humor with themes of mental health, selective mutism, teen friendship dynamics, and connection in unlikely places--because "even robot vacuum cleaners need friends." Teens looking for books without romantic plots can add this to their stacks. Machi is Japanese biracial, and her mother discusses racial discrimination. Includes warnings for mental health struggles, hopelessness, grief, and loss. --Kathleen Breitenbach
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Breitenbach, Kathleen. "The Lost Souls of Benzaiten." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 19-20, 1 June 2024, p. 86. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804018349/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=677160dc. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.