Welcome to Litsy!

Starting this one today. Not really sure I'm feeling emotionally secure enough for "sad, but beautiful" in my current perimenopausal state, but hey-ho...

Under the Eye of the Little Bird, by Hiromi Kawakami (2016, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A novel in linked short stories about the distant fate of humanity.

Review: This will no doubt work for a lot of readers, but despite the fact that I can recognize that it‘s very well done, it was not for me. Told in short stories, all at different moments in the future,, this is meant to keep the reader off guard. Cont.

I loved that 📕 by one of Japan‘s most famous female writers. The co-existence of four women (wife servants concubines etc) in a bourgeois family during the Meiji area. The interactions are observed and described with minutiae giving the main characters a deep humanity. Very beautiful and delicately written. The ending was a stark contrast (no spoilers).

Incredible.

An atmospheric imagining of the world, say, 10,000 years or so from now.

At first you will be completely baffled, but I dare you not to get drawn in.

This is a majestic parade of ideas told with such gorgeous simplicity and yet never failing to be entirely compelling.

Cast a spell on me.

Read it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Plan to film a spoiler-free review shortly. Subscribe to the channel or check back if you want to watch!)

schoolgirl focuses on a single day in a young girl's life and captures her inner thoughts in which she struggles with conflicting feelings and expectations. I found this one was an easier read than the
other 3. I felt similarities between her not wanting to grow into a woman (adult). I certainly wish I could go back to being a young girl again. So many responsibilities as an adult is quite tiring.

No Longer Human covers the life of Yozu from childhood to old age. It shows often his thoughts left him feeling less than human or like a fradulent human. He didn't think he deserved the life he was given. Thinking in this way, you can only imagine how his life went. Suicide attempt, addiction, depression, and fear: these are the heavy themes you will find in this book by Dazai.

In The Setting Sun, you read about a period Kazuko's life: a young woman who is deeply troubled.
She lives with her mother after her divorce.
After her father's death, they lose the house and have to move to the countryside and live a very poor life. On top of that her mother is constantly in poor health; and her brother has a drug addiction. Reading this, I felt the despair that came from Kazuko and felt very sorry for her.

Had a busy weekend, so here's another catch-up post!
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"The clock struck 1:00 A.M."

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From the blurb, this sounds like it has vibes of one of my favourite TV shows, Midnight Diner. It's set in a taxi rather than a café, but the episodic stories of Tokyo's late-night/early-morning denizens resonates. Fingers crossed 🤞