People from My Neighborhood: Stories

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From the author of the internationally bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, a collection of interlinking stories that masterfully blend the mundane and the mythical—“fairy tales in the best Brothers Grimm tradition: naif, magical, and frequently veering into the macabre” ( Financial Times). Compare “The Hachiro Lottery”, which is only quietly odd, to “Grandpa Shadows”, the short story of a man with two shadows, one far more sinister than the other. The sinister shadow has a habit of attaching itself to another person for days at a time as a kind of curse. Like with her previous works in English, her subdued storytelling is softer than Yoko Ogawa's and the spheres from which she draws her subject matter are not as far-flung as Yoko Tawada's, but any of her books are approachable, somewhat enjoyable, and similar in feel to Banana Yoshimoto's. Delighting in both the fantastical and the mundane, the tales in this collection exemplify the Japanese literary form of ‘palm of the hand’ stories . . . Recurrent characters ground the narrative in a measure of reality, and a current of sadness runs beneath the quirky plots.”— The New Yorker

The familiarity with these characters, particularly the narrator’s grumpy best friend, Kanae (who early on we learn will join a motorcycle gang and abandon the narrator’s friendship), and her older sister who will one day have statues erected around the world in her honor, ushers you into the increasingly surreal and folklore-like events. There is a sense these are minor myths in the making, hiding in the open to remind us that magic lurks just behind everyday life. Zero-gravity events, pandemics, visits from the gods, lotteries for wishes and more pass with little fanfare, life always returning as it was as if these breaks from reality were another mundane phase of life. It is like hearing fairy tales, never are the fantasy elements questioned but only stated as obvious facts in the mechanisms of life. From the author of the internationally bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, a collection of interlinking stories that masterfully blend the mundane and the mythical–“fairy tales in the best Brothers Grimm tradition: naif, magical, and frequently veering into the macabre” (Financial Times).A bossy child who lives under a white cloth near a t-ree; a schoolgirl who keeps doll’s brains in a desk drawer; an old man with two shadows, one docile and one rebellious; a diplomat no one has ever seen who goes fishing at an artificial lake no one has ever heard of. These are some of the inhabitants of People From My Neighborhood. In their lives, details of the local and everyday–the lunch menu at a tiny drinking place called the Love, the color and shape of the roof of the tax office–slip into accounts of duels, prophetic dreams, revolutions, and visitations from ghosts and gods. In twenty-six “palm of the hand” stories–fictions small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand–Hiromi Kawakami creates a universe ruled by mystery and transformation. People from My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami – eBook Details Returning to the neighborhood, he reintroduces himself to the town’s denizens before going to work in the family trade: abstract art. He hates art, but “in a feat of sheer self-discipline” he becomes a renowned, though still unmarried, abstract painter. Though a success in all other things, Sōkichi never finds the kind of relationship he wants. Here are snippets from 3 of the stories to give you a flavor of the writing style/stories in this collection: The Elf: about a Music House that located next to the park which you could only visit during your birthday. It plays music to visitors but no one ever tell details about their experience. "Everyone hears different music. The music that rules their destiny." So mysteriously captivating.

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The Empress: of a shopping arcade that held its annual lottery and the first prize is three wishes. I like that this story was a metaphor to a cynical message-- you should be careful for what you wish for. There would always be a small price to pay. A small child living under a sheet, a doll's brain in a box, a vicious dog that bites everyone, a tenement whose only occupants are ghosts, a tiny drinking place called The Love that nobody goes to. Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami is one of her country’s most popular contemporary novelists. She was made famous worldwide for her book Strange Weather in Tokyo (2013), which was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. In addition, Kawakami is known for her absurdist writing style, which permeates the stylistic atmosphere in People From my Neighborhood (2020). With the extraordinary effort of translator Ted Goossen, Kawakami’s unearthly charm and surrealist dreamscapes are now available for English-reading audiences to journey within. It’s an absolute joy to see a writer as keenly insightful as Hiromi Kawakami dabble in surrealism and comedy. At times, People From My Neighbourhood feels like a science experiment. Delighting in both the fantastical and the mundane, the tales in this collection exemplify the Japanese literary form of 'palm of the hand' stories . . . Recurrent characters ground the narrative in a measure of reality, and a current of sadness runs beneath the quirky plots." — The New Yorker

Book Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy, Fiction, Japan, Japanese Literature, Magical Realism, Short StoriesKawakami’s style traffics in brevity, giving us images distilled to their core, sentences that go directly to the heart, and the narrative command to deliver entire lives within one sweeping breath . . . The surreal turns into something powerful in Kawakami’s hands, all the more devastating because it escapes our full understanding." —Brenda Peynado, The New York Times Book Review I don't know how I'd describe these stories - maybe magical realism? But as you progress through the collection, stranger and stranger incidents begin to occur, and you realise that this neighbourhood is not as benign as it originally seems.

People From My Neighbourhood’, de momento no disponible en español, es un conjunto de cortísimos que giran, como cabe esperar, en torno a las personas que viven en un barrio. Pueden leerse forma independiente como pequeñas pildoritas pero quizá recomendaría leerlas más o menos de seguido para captar la multitud de hilos que van uniendo todos los relatos y que conforman un pequeño universo. No porque sea difícil entenderlos sino, más que nada porque quizá se te olviden algunos detalles si nos espacias mucho.The school principal had a wife and two daughters. His wife was a lawyer and his daughters both worked in banks.