Heaven

Firstly thank you to @netgalley and @panmacmillan for the advance copy of #heaven by @kawakami_mieko

MINOR SPOILER ALERTS

I received this book today and read it all today. I absolutely loved #breastsandeggs so hoped for another beautifully written storu by the hugely talented #miekokawakami.

I was not disappointed, this book is short in comparison to breasts and eggs but you wouldn't think it given the detail and rich narrative that runs throughout. The focus on teenage young people and bullying is something, that I too suffered with at a similar age. I can honestly I have never read anything that is as psychological close to the emotions and responses. The bullying scenes are horrific and are upsetting, however the cognitive dissonance applied by the characters in different ways is just poetic and makes you think in so many ways. I wish it lasted longer as reading anything from Kawakami feels like opening a birthday present on each page but she does fit so much into a shorter novel. I loved it and cannot wait to read it in hard copy when it is out on 10th June 2021, preorder now from your favourite book stockiest!

#honnomushi100 #reading #japanesefiction #translatedfiction #translatedjapaneseliterature #booksfromjapan #booklover #bookstagram #translatedgems #beautifulwriting #heavenmeiko

This is the third book by Mieko Kawakami that I've picked up and my journey with her writing has not been the smoothest. I wasn't fully enraptured by Ms Ice Sandwich and I didn't make much progress with Breasts and Eggs (but I do plan to come back to it). Heaven, however, is in an entirely different league. I read this over an evening and a morning and it held me vice like in its grasp.

This is an intense story, it doesn't hold back in the slightest and I'm not ashamed to admit there were moments I was physically shaking while reading it. It's deeply emotional, graphically descriptive, and yet despite its darkness there are these glimmers and moments of hope that you find yourself clinging to, desperately wanting more of them. The plot follows our protagonist who is subjected to relentless and horrific bullying by his classmates as he is befriended through letters by the enigmatic Kojima, the other object of torment within the class. Kojima's holds a not necessarily strange philosophy but one that means she believes that her acceptance of the bullying means something in the greater scheme. This is juxtaposed by the philosophy of Momose, one of the classroom bullies, who believes in the inherent selfishness of people and that there is no reason other than people doing what they want. This dichotomy is explored by our protagonist as he contemplates what choices and actions he should take. Mieko Kawakami weaves all of this together, alongside aspects of tumultuous home lives, and creates an incredibly powerful piece of writing that will haunt you after finishing it.

Only after reading this book, I’ve realized that I’ve been waiting for it such a long time. This is my book. I rarely come across books that are able to touch my soul and make me feel the full spectrum of emotions whilst reading it. This book has everything, despite being tagged as a “teenager” book, due to main characters being only 14 years old. Don’t get me wrong, there is a fair amount of violence here and I DID NOT enjoy it, but philosophical part, the amount of “real life” in this book made me fall for it.

It’s a story about 14 years old boy who is tortured at his school by other children, simply because he’s different, he has a lazy eye. He starts to receive notes from the stranger and eventually makes a friend, who is also bullied at school, they share something more than just friendship. They both suffer from more than just bullying. They exchange letters, there is so much that these letters do to both of them.

Book about bullying, it’s nothing new these days. But this story is different. It touches so many philosophical aspects from victims and tormentors. The main point that I’ve taken away from this book for myself is... Is there really a sense to everything that is happening around us? Do things really matter? Does the person who hurts you, really considers your pain? Or they just do bad things, simply because they want to, without any purpose?

Another important aspect of this book is finding peace within yourself. In this case it was the lazy eye problem. Was the boy bullied just because of his look or there was more to it? How did it made boy feel about himself...?

This book isn’t for everyone, but... I would highly recommend on reading it! I’m sure you will end up making debates in your head about so many things in this book! Author's language is exquisite, I could not detach myself from this book, it was so addictive. I will definitely be reading it over and over again. I also believe, that different age group people will notice different things in this book, but it would touch everyone's heart.

Book review: 4.5/5

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC**

TW: Bullying, violence, mention of suicide, mild sexual content.

Brief summary: An uncomfortable novel which follows our narrator, a 14 year old middle school boy, who is bullied for having a lazy eye. The narrator strikes up a friendship with another fellow outcast and classmate who seems to be the only person who understands the narrator’s predicament. This novel focuses on the importance of childhood friendships and the different definitions of power.

This novel is completely different from Kawakami’s famous ‘Breasts & Eggs’ but has a very similar tone of blunt realism which I previously enjoyed. Kawakami taps into the vulnerability of every reader who encounters this book through her portrayals of bullying at school, a feeling of isolation at school and in life generally and the depiction of an unstable home/family life. I personally have experienced an element of all of these themes so I really empathised and recognised elements of myself in the narrator.

This book is, at times, very difficult to read with its graphically descriptive language of violent encounters. The reader is left sitting in nauseating anticipation waiting for the next altercation to occur. Whilst Breasts & Eggs felt like an endless marathon, I felt like Heaven was rollercoaster which I enjoyed but also wanted to get off. Whilst Breasts & Eggs dealt with mostly feminine issues of motherhood and pregnancy, Heaven felt universally accessible.

The most interesting element of the novel for me was Kawakami’s exploration of the definitions of power and how individuals express empowerment in the face of adversity. On the one hand, we have characters such as the school bullies who believe that power is expressed through brutality and violence. On the other hand, there are characters like Kojima that argue that accepting the bullying and violence she endures each day is her empowerment. The bullies bully her for the way she is but she is able to be her aesthetic self and express her connection to her absent father through her appearance and her ‘signs’. I felt like Kawakami was creating parallels between the way the characters like Kojima and the narrator endure hardship and historical figures who used policies of nonviolence and passive resistance.

Altogether, I really enjoyed this quirky novella (much more than Breasts & Eggs). I got a lot of Sayaka Murata vibes from it. It is not an easy read with its very graphic descriptions of violence and its uncomfortably realism but it also opens up avenues for reflection about how we define the self and what we perceive to be empowerment.

Visceral is a word that sometimes feels overused in book reviews, but this is one book that definitely merits the description. It’s not unlike Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan in the sense that it is very hard to read at times, but beautifully written.

Our narrator is a teenage boy who strikes up a close friendship with Kojima, a girl in his class. Initially they bond over their shared experience of being relentlessly bullied and physically brutalised by a mob of classmates (purportedly because he has a lazy eye and because she is poor). Their friendship deepens as they write to each other and spend more time in each other’s company.

The book explores philosophical themes such the meaning of life, empathy, power and self-empowerment through the relationships in the book. Some of the more philosophical discussions I could give or take (I found Momose’s monologue a little overblown and not that credible). Having said that, the writing and imagery used by Kawakami, and the way in which the scene at the climax of the book was executed, was simply masterful.

I found it an engrossing and very uncomfortable read. Not a light one - there are disturbing violent scenes in it. 4/5⭐️

**Heaven will be published on 10 June 2021. I read an advance digital copy of this book courtesy of the publishers @panmacmillan @picadorbooks via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.**

I love Japanese literature and I'm grateful for the opportunity to read this book. Despite the unpleasant situations described in this book I really enjoyed it, especially the philosophical aspects around guilt and good/evil. I'll be sure to pick up further books by the author. Many thanks for the ARC!

Heaven is narrated by an unnamed 14 year old boy, who is referred to as Eyes in the novel, due to his lazy eye. He is bullied relentlessly by his peers at school, especially from a group of boys. He is physically and verbally. One day he finds a letter under his desk at school, which was written by Kojima, a girl in his class that is also bullied. From there the pair get close and develop a friendship where they confide in each other and they finally have someone who they can talk to.

This book is really sad and heart-breaking with the graphic details of the bullying. You really feel for these characters and they are really compelling. Kawakami’s writing is lovely and just really works for how the characters are feeling and dealing with the horrible things that are happening to them. For such a short book, it looks at how each child reflects and gives meaning to the violent behaviours they are subjected to or that they perpetrate. How and why do humans do the things they do, how can some people be so careless for others and then others care so much.

This book is not an easy read, its bleak and sad. But it is a beautiful short book that I would really recommend. I am really looking forward to reading Kawakami’s previous novel Breasts and Eggs and anything she writes and is translated in the future.

Met and exceeded all of my expectations. Mieko Kawakami is a genius. An empathetic genius. Hope there is more where that and Breasts and Eggs came from.

I was a big fan of Kawakami after reading Breasts and Eggs and I went into this with high expectations, and I actually think she exceeded my expectations.
Whilst I loved Breasts and Eggs I thought sometimes the prose felt a bit disjointed, however in the case of Heaven the story flowed so well. I read this in one sitting, I couldn't bear to not finish it once I started. Kawakami has this amazing ability to portray such deep feeling and emotion without actually using emotional language. Almost the opposite in fact. Her style of writing is so matter-of-fact it's quite amazing how deep she can portray such a story of pain and suffering. The daily lives of the two main characters and the images of the final scene with the two surrounded by their bullies will stay with me for a long time. It was a harrowing story and it was unsettling in how it ended, not quite a happy ending but perhaps with a hint of normalcy.
It would actually seem like normalcy is all our protagonists want. The sheer fact that Kojima refers to the painting of a couple eating cake "Heaven" would suggest her outlook is pretty bleak. It's heart-wrenching.

This book would not suit everyone, however, due to the suicidal thoughts and frankly how lifelike and realistic the characters and their perils are, I feel anyone with a history of bullying may struggle greatly with this book so I would not recommend this to them for that reason. However, it is an exceptionally well written book and it will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this. Mieko Kawakami has shot right up there in my list of favourite authors. What an undeniable force.

TW: explicit bullying, underage sex and rape implied, suicidal and self-harm thoughts

This is the story about a boy with a lazy eye and Kojima, the targets for every bully at their school. They start sharing letters and end up meeting to discuss life and bullying. It's a coming of age story showing how bullying can make or break you.

This was a such a difficult read. I loved the meaning of the book but it was explicit and cruel, certainly one of these books that goes a little beyond where it's supposed to and ends up being too graphic ('torture porn'). I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but it's a good novel. Mieko Kawakami is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, Breasts and Eggs was incredible, too.