“The world is full of things that don’t make sense. That’s why we have to make our own sense of it.” Chapter 1: The Murder The novel opens […]
Grotesque
“People are grotesque. They pretend to be good, but inside they’re rotten.” Part One: The Sisters The novel begins with the unnamed narrator reflecting on her sister Yuriko’s […]
Out
“The night was deep and quiet, the kind of quiet that makes you feel like you’re the only person left in the world.” Chapter 1: The Factory The […]
The Nakano Thrift Shop
“People come and go, but things remain. That’s why I like them.” — Hiromi Kawakami, The Nakano Thrift Shop Part One The story follows Hitomi, a young woman […]
All the Lovers in the Night
“I wanted to be seen, but I didn’t want to be known.” Chapter 1: Fuyuko’s Solitude Fuyuko Irie, a freelance proofreader in her mid-thirties, lives a quiet, isolated […]
Breasts and Eggs
“What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to have a body?” Part One: Summer The novel opens with Natsuko, a struggling writer in […]
Heaven
“Eyes are the windows to the soul, but what if the soul is already broken?” Chapter 1: The Letter The novel opens with a 14-year-old boy, known only […]
The Ten Loves of Nishino
“Love is like a river—sometimes it flows gently, and other times it rushes violently, but it always changes course.” Chapter 1: The First Love – Yukiko The novel […]
Strange Weather in Tokyo
“Time flows in strange ways when you’re not paying attention.” The novel follows Tsukiko, a single woman in her late thirties, who unexpectedly reconnects with her former high […]
The Briefcase
“Time passes, people move. Like a river’s flow, it never ends.” Chapter 1: An Unexpected Reunion The novel opens with Tsukiko, a single woman in her late thirties, […]