Record of a Night too Brief (Japanese Novellas #3)
Description
Akutagawa Prize-winning stories about unsettling loss and romance from one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary writers—for fans of Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto
In a dreamlike adventure, one woman travels through an apparently unending night with a porcelain girlfriend, mist-monsters and villainous monkeys; a sister mourns her invisible brother whom only she can still see, while the rest of her family welcome his would-be wife into their home; and an accident with a snake leads a shop girl to discover the snake-families everyone else seems to be concealing.
Sensual, yearning, and filled with the tricks of memory and grief, Record of a Night Too Brief is an atmospheric trio of unforgettable tales.
“Talking animals, transformations into trees and horses, and a melancholic mood of loss and love make it easy to see why Kawakami is one of the more exciting voices in contemporary Japanese literature." —Thrillist
Praise for Record of a Night too Brief (Japanese Novellas #3)
"A supersurreal triad of stories . . . Kawakami marks the literary map of Japan with a warning that beyond here lie dragons—or snakes and ghosts, at any rate. Astonishing, strange, and wonderful. "
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Fans of Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto will enjoy immersing themselves in Kawakami’s magical worlds."
—Booklist
". . . the author successfully juxtaposes elements of contemporary Japan—in Kawakami’s case, postmodern Japan, with its high-rise apartment buildings, highway service areas, radio stock market reports, and advertising jingles blaring from parade-float loudspeakers — with myths and folklore that gesture toward a lost, pre-modern imaginary."
—Los Angeles Review of Books
"Talking animals, transformations into trees and horses, and a melancholic mood of loss and love make it easy to see why Kawakami is one of the more exciting voices in contemporary Japanese literature."
—Thrillist
"A truly fantastical story . . . rewards with rich imagery that will challenge anyone’s powers of imagination."
—Japan Society Journal (UK)
"At once funny and humane . . . the author's estranging fiction is bewitching. If Japan were in need of a Lewis Carroll, look no further."
—South China Morning Post
"Baffling, unsettling and haunting, these stories have a dreamlike atmosphere."
—The Lady (UK Magazine)
