The translation here is certainly deserving of endless praise as well with the voice coming through so clear and fluid. The second part of the book, with the weaving of the school life along with the mc's love life, as well as the conclusion of the story, was pretty much the best and masterfully handled and written. that asks us to join an unnamed narrator, with an obsessive interest in a sandwich vendor, as he tries to navigate the uncertain currents in his young life that have brought him to our attention. Three hundred forty-nine books, hundred thirty eight minutes, forty-two contemplations it took for me to start reading this one. Between a 4 and a 5-star rating – a great concept; a light read – and/but also felt a bit lacking in terms of characterisation (as per usual when it comes to Kawakami’s work).

While reading Kawakami’s novella, I’ve thought about what Kenshi Yonezu said in an interview with regards to the narcissism that saturates love songs, and the very act of an infatuation – the beginning of a romantic relationship in general. Kawakami uses the theme of love and death in the novella very appropriately; and the narrative tone (which I usually do not like in her other novels) worked brilliantly in this one. Children are often swayed by what others think, even more than adults, and he doesn’t seem to have the confidence to hold to his own opinion.

Through the economic prose we can sympathise with the boy and partake in his naïve worldview easily. Both the central boy and Tutti’s loneliness can be prescribed to a lack of parental care or involvement, their lives dominated not by their children or their duties as adults, but rather by the excesses of medias such as television and smartphones.

If you want to see somebody you have to make plans to meet, or even make plans to make plans, and next thing you end up not seeing them anymore. As I turned the pages, I could perceive the world that was opening up to him as he teetered on the cusp of adulthood.Let me know in the comments if you’ve read anything by Mieko Kawakami, and what you’re reading or would recommend reading for the Japanese Literature Challenge. The struggle to achieve this liberation is the novella’s dénouement, and Kawakami handles it well, tying together loose threads while remaining faithful to the characterization of the young boy we have come to know. Of writing about deeply personal issues, such as loneliness, which you mentioned in your comment in my post.

The writing in this book is really childish, but again the narrator is fourth grader, so it just works fine. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I do know that somewhere in this town there is something bad, and that those long shadows creeping up in the dark have come to tell me about it. No, not because the author is Japanese, but because the main character and the whole novel carry a ‘Ghibli’ feeling of hope with it that I absolutely loved. Tutti offers him a place in her world, which he is grateful for even if he cannot match her enthusiasm for her interests.Instead, it is a fascinating, touching and quiet coming-of-age story with a plethora of lessons to be taught and inspiring passages. This is always a risky undertaking as sounding false will spoil the book no matter how good the plot is and trying to capture an adolescent train of thought is as elusive as trying to follow a story a child of that age tries to tell you (I have a ten year old, trust me). And thinking about that now, I think Kawakami’s novel just goes to show how important adolescent and teenage experiences are; and of how they are bound to affect the way you perceive/build and sustain/maintain relationships – or even as simple as how you ‘love’ later in life. There’s a part of grief but I would say this is a wholesome novella which deals with unlikely friendships and having a crush growing up; accepting people and our surrounding.