The How Do You Live? novel that inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie, The Boy and the Heron, is getting a paperback English release on September 12, as announced by Hachette Book Group. The book, written by Genzaburo Yoshino, was translated into English by Bruno Navasky and first published in October 2021 in hardcover and e-book editions.
The paperback edition of How Do You Live? will go on sale for $12.95. The book also features a foreword by Neil Gaiman, who wrote the English-language adaptation of Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. Hachette Book Group describes the plot as:
First published in 1937, Genzaburo Yoshino’s How Do You Live? has long been acknowledged in Japan as a crossover classic for young readers. The novel is narrated in two voices. The first belongs to Copper, fifteen, who after the death of his father must confront inevitable and enormous change, including his own betrayal of his best friend. In between episodes of Copper’s emerging story, his uncle writes to him in a journal, sharing knowledge and offering advice on life’s big questions as Copper begins to encounter them. Over the course of the story, Copper, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars, and uses his discoveries about the heavens, earth, and human nature to answer the question of how he will live.
Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron premiered in Japan in July of this year. Although it shares the original Japanese title (Kimitachi wa dou ikiru ka?) with Yoshino’s novel, it is not a direct adaptation, but it instead signifies the importance that the book had on Miyazaki’s life, especially childhood. The movie will have its international premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Source: Press Release