A Review of Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

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6.8/10 

Oh man. This is a sad book. The unnamed narrator is a middle school student in 1990 Japan. He is ruthlessly bullied and has a lazy eye. He has been tormented for years and is all alone in this world. That is until he finds a note from a classmate in his pencil case. The sender is Kojima, a girl in his class who is also bullied. She is bullied because she has "signs". Signs are remembrances she purposefully has in order to keep her father's spirit alive in her. She doesn't wash, wears dirty clothes, and doesn't eat enough. They become friends. They continue writing each other notes and occasionally meet in person. However, no matter how close they become neither one sticks up for one another when the other gets bullied at school. 

One summer day the narrator and Kojima go on a trip to a museum to see what Kojima calls "heaven". Heaven is a painting that she likes very much. While on this trip they bond and become even closed. Kojima tells the narrator that she likes his eyes. Something that he has never heard before. 

The narrator one days gets beaten so bad he goes to the hospital. There he sees and confronts one of his bullies. He asks why all this torment is directed towards him and the bully just says that is the way life works. He doesn't care about him and isn't going to stop because he has fun doing it. The bully tells him that if he wants it to stop then to do something about it. The narrator knows he wont have the strength to do anything.

The narrator's doctor tells him that fixing his lazy eye would be not a problem and a cheap one at that. Not sure what to do with this news he tells Kojima. Kojima is upset. She thinks that their "signs" is what makes them them. She says to allow the bullying to happen is what makes them bigger people than their bullies. She allows it because she allows it. Kojima shies away from the narrator and stops replying to his notes. 

One day she finally agrees to meet up with him at the place they first met. Turns out the bullies intercepted the letter and forced Kojima to reply to the narrator. There they attempt to get the narrator and Kojima to have sex in front of them. The narrator can't do anything to stop it. He is frozen. Meanwhile Kojima strips naked and scares off the bullies. An old lady intervenes and this is the last time the narrator and Kojima see each other. 

The narrator gets the eye surgery. His life changes. Finally things are in focus and the colors he sees so much more vibrant. 

I took down some notes while reading this book. I am just going to write them here exactly as I wrote them initially. Trapped in a helpless situation. "Next year it'll get better". Staying in room. No one to talk to. Suicide a way out. But what comes after death. Cold November. One friend that you can relate with and not feel so alone. So insecure that you can't even turn your head in class. Not leaving room. Escape reality via books. Doctor is that one adult that wants to help but isn't quiet sure how. Don't want to disappoint parents. Momose is an asshole. Doesn't care. Thinks that nothing matters. Seasons bring back memories.

A Review of Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov

 

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Divorced alcoholic takes up a job at the Pushkin Hills tourist site. He is a failed writer. Some really good prose here and some very funny moments. I wish we got more out of the supporting characters but I guess it is better to leave them wanting more. Second Russian book in a row I've read where the description of the hard drinking makes my stomach turn. Weary eyes, foul taste in your mouth and a headache to end all headaches.

"The only honest path is the path of mistakes, disappointments and hopes. Life is the discovery of the boundaries of good and evil through personal experience. There is no other way. I have arrived somewhere...I think it's not too late..."

"All my life I had detested active behavior of any kind. To my ear, the word "activist" sounds like an insult. I lived in the passive voice, so to speak, allowing circumstances to take the lead. This help me find justification for everything."

Provincal Russia for some reason is one of those mystical places for me. Funny characters and always something going on.

Review of A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson

 

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I have had a book by Jim Thompson on my "to read" list for quiet a while now. I think 3 or 4 years at this point. I finally got around to reading one of his books. I'll be honest. I chose this book out of the 8 or so books by him that my library had because it was the shortest. I was checking out 5 books at once and would only have 21 days to read all of them. I wanted a quick read. While this book is shorter than most books these days it is still packed. Here we have a main character Frank "Dolly" Dillon. A door to door salesman for Pay-E-Zee. He has got a prick for a boss and a wife that never has dinner waiting for him when he gets home. Classic 1950s America. One day he stumbles upon an old bag of a woman prostituting her niece out. He is furious. He sells some silverwear to the old bag in exchange for "sleeping" with her niece. In reality he is devising a plan. A plan to get her out of there. He shows up to the employer of someone who is skipping out on payments and gets the money from him but marks it in his ledger and being the money for the silverwear. This lands him in some hot water. His boss, Staples, goes over his books and realizes that he has been stealing from the company for a while now and calls the cops. Dolly is now in jail. A few days pass and his "wife" pays Staples the money to get him to drop the charges. But it turns out that it isnt his wife. His wife, Joyce, left Dolly a few days ago. The payee is the niece, Mona.

Dolly finds out that the money Mona used is from her aunt's stash of around 100k in pure cash. He wants the money. He decides that he is going to set up Pete Hendrickson, the flake who he collected from. He is going to set up Pete to take the fall for the old hag's murder and Pete is going to get killed in the process.

Two murders later. The cops don't suspect a thing. Mona and Dolly have to lie low for a while and the 100k is burning a hole in Dolly's pocket. He fakes sales using the money and continues to lie low...and then his wife comes back. She is back from Kansas City. She wants to try again. She and Dolly are a happy go lucky husband and wife for a few days until she finally can't take it anymore and has to know where Dolly got the money from. Joyce tries to leave. She can't stand the lying. Dolly trying to stop her from leaving pulls a classic move from Of Mice and Men and accidentally kills her (and their unborn child) and buries her in the coal of a coal train near their apartment. Three murders under his belt now (4 including the baby).

And then Staples shows up. Staples is wise to the whole thing. He knows Dolly has got the money and gets is from him. He outsmarts him and tells him to screw. Not before giving him close to 1000 dollars. So old Dolly hits the road with Mona in tow.

He berates Mona. He yells at her and calls her a tramp. All the while he is having to lie low because Joyce's body is found and traced to him. Mona can't take it. She jumps in front of a truck and is killed. Dolly moves on.

Meanwhile Staples has started to spend the money (money from a ransom paid for when Mona was kidnapped as a child). The cops are on him. They bust him and dont believe his story about how he got the money. They charge him with the aunt's murder, Pete's murder, Mona's murder, and Dolly's suspected murder.

Dolly has since hooked up with a new lady and the story ends with a mysterious scene with Dolly, his new lady, a pair of scissors, and Dolly leaping out a window.

Really good. Thompson writes with power that catches you off guard and smacks you right in the Face. Dime Store Dostoyevsky is a fantastic nickname too.