Things I read: Heaven (By Mieko Kawakami)

I’ve always been a fan of Japanese literature but it wasn’t until recently that I realised how popular it’s become. Every time I wander into Waterstones I seem to find more contemporary novels sitting on the front tables, staring at me like some sort of wide-eyed cat waiting for its evening meal. It’s a pleasant surprise considering that just five years ago the availability was seemingly much smaller - confined to the likes of two Murakami’s (Ryu and Haruki) with some older novelists sprinkled in for good measure (Mishima, Kawabata, Yoshimoto, Soseki, etc). It’s made me really excited to plunge into them now that it seems everything is getting a professional translation.

Heaven is the first contemporary Japanese novel I’ve read since - ooh - Killing Commendatore back in 2020. It’s also fittingly the first full-length novel by its author, singer-turned-writer Mieko Kawakami. The book focuses on two high school students who are bullied relentlessly, the narrator, an unnamed male character with a lazy eye condition, and Kojima, a thin quiet girl considered impoverished and "dirty" by her peers. Both endure plenty of hardship and it's through their terrible experience that they strike up a friendship; first built on hand-written letters that develops into a deeper bond built on shared experience of unexpected misfortune.

At a mere 248 pages, it’s a rather short book but one that packs a big punch. Much of the story is devoted to the horrors of high school, a usual theme in Japanese fiction, but it has an adult sensibility that moves it beyond simply tropes. I think it’s amazing how Kawakami channels the two characters, giving them life and making them feel like stand-ins for anybody suffering from things they don't deserve. The beauty of the book for me is the way it combines passages of pure awfulness with sporadic moments of joy. Like its characters desperately searching for an escape, it highlights just how easily nice things can be overlooked, except when we really want to see them.

Overall, I loved my experience with Heaven and I'm excited to delve into more of Kawakami's work, including the popular Breast and Eggs which I've already downloaded to my Kindle.

—

P.S. Please forgive my rusty writing in this post. A blog is a living, breathing thing and I’ve neglected mine for so long. It’s a misgiving I’m planning to fix as I have a bit more time to write regularly now.