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春のこわいもの
感染症大流行（パンデミック）前夜の东京――〈ギャラ饮み〉志愿の女性、ベッドで人生を回顾する老女、深夜の学校へ忍び込む高校生、亲友を秘かに里切りつづけた作家……。东京で6人の男女が体験する甘美きわまる地狱巡り。これがただの悪梦ならば、目をさませば済むことなのに。『夏物语』から二年半、世界中が切望していた新作刊行！
208 pages, Tankobon Hardcover
First published February 28, 2022
15 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Mieko Kawakami
64?books7,951?followersMieko Kawakami (川上未映子, born in August 29, 1976) is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka.
She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs).
Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.
She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs).
Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 4, 2025
A collection of short stories available on Audible (I can’t see a print edition online) from Japanese writer Mieko Kawakami and all apparently written around the time of the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, as what was then a strange new virus is mentioned in every story.
I snapped up ‘The Ashes of Spring’, having recently devoured two of Kawakami’s most popular novels translated into English (‘All the Lovers in the Night’ and ‘Breasts and Eggs’) . But this uneven collection is not a patch on the novels, with some of the stories having the feel of being written in a rush.
The two exceptions were the longest story - and the last one in the collection - ‘Mothers and Daughters’. This was more like the Kawakami I was familiar with. It’s a tale of a close friendship between two young women that goes sour due partly to the malign influence of one of the women’s mothers - a loathsome wealthy woman who sends her beautiful daughter Anna to Tokyo to be an actress (the occupation she herself had once aspired to). The other young woman, Yoshi, a struggling aspiring writer who is also the narrator, comes to resent the beautiful, spoilt but unambitious Anna to the extent that she conspires with the mother to undermine her friend and destroy what’s left of her stalled career as an actress.
The other story I enjoyed also explored the sometimes brutal competition between women. This was a topical story about the intense pressures on young girls in Japan (and elsewhere) through social media influencers to be physically perfect - pressures that lead some of them to totally reshape and sometimes disfigure their faces and bodies with plastic surgery. The title ‘Maybe if You Had a Better Nose’ tells you what to expect from that one.
These riffs on female rivalry, class, and body politics against the background of neoliberal dog-eat-dog capitalism are familiar territory for Kawakami, but I feel her novels - where she has the chance to stretch out - are more effective vehicles for telling stories around those themes
I snapped up ‘The Ashes of Spring’, having recently devoured two of Kawakami’s most popular novels translated into English (‘All the Lovers in the Night’ and ‘Breasts and Eggs’) . But this uneven collection is not a patch on the novels, with some of the stories having the feel of being written in a rush.
The two exceptions were the longest story - and the last one in the collection - ‘Mothers and Daughters’. This was more like the Kawakami I was familiar with. It’s a tale of a close friendship between two young women that goes sour due partly to the malign influence of one of the women’s mothers - a loathsome wealthy woman who sends her beautiful daughter Anna to Tokyo to be an actress (the occupation she herself had once aspired to). The other young woman, Yoshi, a struggling aspiring writer who is also the narrator, comes to resent the beautiful, spoilt but unambitious Anna to the extent that she conspires with the mother to undermine her friend and destroy what’s left of her stalled career as an actress.
The other story I enjoyed also explored the sometimes brutal competition between women. This was a topical story about the intense pressures on young girls in Japan (and elsewhere) through social media influencers to be physically perfect - pressures that lead some of them to totally reshape and sometimes disfigure their faces and bodies with plastic surgery. The title ‘Maybe if You Had a Better Nose’ tells you what to expect from that one.
These riffs on female rivalry, class, and body politics against the background of neoliberal dog-eat-dog capitalism are familiar territory for Kawakami, but I feel her novels - where she has the chance to stretch out - are more effective vehicles for telling stories around those themes
March 27, 2025
3.5 stars
April 15, 2025
Everyone in this sucks.
So to that end I’m sure the author has been successful - but. No thank you.
So to that end I’m sure the author has been successful - but. No thank you.
March 25, 2025
Short stories all taking place at the start of the pandemic which have nothing to do with the pandemic. Just regular people and their aspirations, fears, secrets, wishes and dreams.
The hardest part of picking up a Meiko Kawakami book is knowing that she would have found a way to make you connect and deep dive into your own experiences. Her stories are uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. But the brilliance of her writing makes it hard to ignore.
It has been a while since I read "Heaven" and the pain she shows in that book still haunts me. I have had "Breast and Eggs" on my TBR bookshelf for a while but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I know it will hurt and make you introspect that no other book.
The hardest part of picking up a Meiko Kawakami book is knowing that she would have found a way to make you connect and deep dive into your own experiences. Her stories are uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. But the brilliance of her writing makes it hard to ignore.
It has been a while since I read "Heaven" and the pain she shows in that book still haunts me. I have had "Breast and Eggs" on my TBR bookshelf for a while but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I know it will hurt and make you introspect that no other book.
April 8, 2025
My first short story collection experience with Kawakami and while these are sorta a mixed bag I feel like the good outweighs the meh by far. The last story about a super unhealthy friendship between the MC (an aspiring author) and her roommate (an aspiring actress) is really well done and toys with the readers emotions and expectations in interesting ways. The first story 青かける青 is kind of stream of consciousness style writing similar to Kawakami’s earlier novels that I thought was also written really well.
March 31, 2025
A collection of short stories revolving around ordinary lives during the pandemic, the virus mostly staying as something in the background. Only the first and last stories stood out to me, the first one relatable as someone with a chronic condition. The last one captivated me with the changes of the protagonist's behavior.
Possible triggers for pronatalism include one mention of a side character saying she gained something more fulfilling than a career by marrying and giving birth instead.
Possible triggers for pronatalism include one mention of a side character saying she gained something more fulfilling than a career by marrying and giving birth instead.
March 30, 2025
It felt like stream of consciousness stories looking into the diaries of regular people. Their dark thoughts, their irredeemable qualities, and horrible things they did through their lives and them never addressing them. Never seeing them get their just desserts and a pandemic in the background. Some stories were better than others 3.5.
September 3, 2023
『青かける青』、『花瓶』が个人的にすき。言叶ひとつひとつが优しい。生死について日常の风景から语るスタイルが私はいいなとおもう。恋をした时期は一瞬にも関わらず、将来自分の死が迫っているときにもその恋の后味みたいなのを感じるのかなと考えた。その味が苦いのか、甘いのかは人それぞれか。でも、そう思うと、どちらにせよ自分の人生への影响は强い。そのような影响を与えてくれた彼らに、私は感谢したい。彼がどうか元気で今日という日も幸せに过ごしていますように。
April 8, 2025
3.5 stars for me
Enjoyed the stories and I haven’t listened to much set during pandemic time, so it made me reflect on that time.
I thought the feelings of frustration or loss of the complete sense of reality were well-portrayed.
Enjoyed the stories and I haven’t listened to much set during pandemic time, so it made me reflect on that time.
I thought the feelings of frustration or loss of the complete sense of reality were well-portrayed.
April 1, 2025
1 Ooh. Depressing!!
May 14, 2025
An audiobook of short stories of young women's lives at the time of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Weirdly, that's the connecting factor for the stories but the pandemic is very much a background tidbit barely mentioned. That they're set in the same time frame is barely relevant.
The stories are fine, but none of the main characters are particularly likeable. Of course characters dont have to be likeable but it was story after story of people I didnt really care about, and left me wondering why I was listening at all.
Only 4 hours or so, not a huge time investment either way but definitely nothing special.
Weirdly, that's the connecting factor for the stories but the pandemic is very much a background tidbit barely mentioned. That they're set in the same time frame is barely relevant.
The stories are fine, but none of the main characters are particularly likeable. Of course characters dont have to be likeable but it was story after story of people I didnt really care about, and left me wondering why I was listening at all.
Only 4 hours or so, not a huge time investment either way but definitely nothing special.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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