Jackson Alone, Jose Ando
Jackson Alone, Jose Ando
List: $13.99 | Sale: $9.80
Club: $6.99

Jackson Alone

Author: Jose Ando, Kalau Almony

Narrator: Pun Bandhu

Unabridged: 3 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/06/2026


Synopsis

Four Black Japanese gay men team up to exact revenge in a culture where discrimination is deep-seated. A searing, darkly funny debut from the Akutagawa Prize–winning author. Nobody at the corporate offices of Athletius Japan knows much about the massage therapist, Jackson—but rumors abound. He used to work as a model. He likes to party. He’s mixed race—half-Japanese, half-somewhere-in-Africa-n. He might be gay. Fueling the gossip is the sudden appearance of a violent pornographic video featuring a man who looks a lot like Jackson. When Jackson serendipitously meets three other queer mixed-race guys, he learns he’s not the only one being targeted. Together they concoct a plan: find out who’s responsible and, in the meantime, switch identities and play tricks on people—a boyfriend, a boss—who’ve wronged them, exploiting the fact that nobody can seem to tell them apart. A short, blistering gut punch of a novel, Jackson Alone is at turns satirical and deadpan, angry and tender—a frank exploration of identity, race, and queerness in contemporary Japan that announces Jose Ando as a singular new talent in the global literary scene.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Karolina on October 05, 2025

2.5 pomysł na pewno nietypowy i zaczęło się dziwnie, ale dobrze. No ale niestety im dalej, tym gorzej, a końcówka to w ogóle było jedno wielkie wtf, i didn’t get it?......more

Goodreads review by this_eel on September 21, 2025

This book is kind of a mess. It starts and aborts many ideas and several plots in a half-hearted way, all culminating in an act of violence that’s poorly described and only thematically related to the rest of the book. The premise as described is baaaaaaarely followed through on. I did enjoy the dis......more

Goodreads review by on January 30, 2023

Books that jump out at me on a hunch are usually interesting. This book is no exception, and is by far the best novel I have read in recent months. The main character is Jackson, a gay man who is a mix of African and Japanese. At work, he learns that a pornographic video of someone who looks like him......more

Goodreads review by lou´ on January 04, 2024

le principe de l'histoire donnait grave envie mais l'écriture est trop fouillie, j'étais perdue tout le long du livre :/ on se perd dans les personnages et dans l'intérêt de l'histoire......more

Goodreads review by Amelie on November 16, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK/Footnote Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. This novel was so promising to begin with. It opens with Jackson, a massage therapist for a sports company who, in his professional and personal life, experiences prejudice a......more