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 The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

 

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Set in pre-war Japan this locked room mystery book is narrated in a way that is almost meta. It references other mystery books such as Agatha Christi and also directly speaks to the reader.

Kenzo Ichiyanagi is set to marry Katsuko Kubo in the Ichiyanagi family's large estate in rurual Japan. The night following their wedding the residents of the house wake up to screams and the picking of a Koto. They find the newlyweds dead and soaking in their own crimson-colored blood. Enter the locked room mystery that now needs to be solved.

Kosuke Kindaichi, a twenty-something-year-old private detective, is sent for and he goes about solving the mystery. Is it the three fingered man who was asking about the location of the Ichiyanagi's estae a few days before and whose prints are being found all over the crime scene or someone else? Read the book and you'll be able to see for yourself.

I wish that the fleshed out the Kosuke character a little more. Basically all we know is that he is in his twenties, dresses kind of slovently and has unkempt hair. He solved a long unsolved crime in San Francisco while studying abroad in the USA and has become a private detective upoin returning to Japan. No real character developement with him.

I also wish that the explanation was done a little better or that the method was entirerly different.

Not a bad book and I will read the next book in the series, but I am no racing to get my hands on the next book because this one didn't leave me speachless

A Review of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

 

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Japan done.

Weird but good book.

A few of the notes I jotted down while reading this: Furkura is like a trained chameleon who has had to learn how to fit into her society. She had to wear a mask in order to fit it (ie changing her way of speaking to match the person she is around and basing her clothing off of what she sees her peers wearing). She has had to conform to the social contract in order to not be ostracized by those around her and her sister is a great help in managing these affairs. Furkura is reluctant to become a normal memeber of society and wants to work at the convenience store and be left alone to live her life in support of the store.

Furukura's sister loves her and wants the best for her. She doesn't want to see Furkura laughed at or be gossiped about that is why she helps her. When Furukura's sister hears Shiraha's lies about why he was in the bathroom instead of in the living room like any "normal" boyfriend would be hanging out she is relieved. Furukura notes "She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine." Normalcy with problems>abnormal with no problems.

Near the end of the book when Furukura finally comes to terms that she is meant to work at a store and no longer will care about what others think about her she says "For the first time, I could think of the me in the window as a being with meaning." Her life's mission is to work at the convenience store.

Irasshaimase!