People From My Neighbourhood: Hiromi Kawakami

Reviews

Lola

I loved that the short stories were a mix of fantasy and realism that were magically blended. I’ve not read much if any, Japanese Fiction before so I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to take part in this read-along for Women in Translation Month. The book is based around the same Neighbourhood, so it also makes sense that the same character reoccurred.

Alana_thebooknerd

This gives you the ability to be the narrator because there isn’t a lot you can identify or not identify with because very little is shared on them. These are uniquely represented but still superbly conveyed. Couldn’t put this down, I wanted to keep meeting new people from this bizarre neighbourhood. This was a spectacular introduction to this culture's literature.

It’s made me want to read more not only from this author but also more Contemporary Japanese Fiction. This book will have you under a spell so quickly and stick with you.

I am so grateful to Tandem Collective and Granta Books for giving me this opportunity it has been such a beautiful read. Every story is as beautiful, enchanting and curious as the last. Each story is between 3-5 pages long, so I can’t go into any of the stories as I’m not prepared to spoil any of them. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m educated enough in the Japanese culture to maybe understand the meaning fully, but I was able to find my own takeaways from a number of stories.