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dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
A strong voice and mystical prose tell absurdist stories that I'm at max 70% sure what they really mean. This is one of those collections that is difficult to give a rating to but I have a feeling I'll be comparing other things to some of these stories, which is good for something right? If you liked "Beau is Afraid" you might like this, take that information as you may.
Stand-outs were Mole, Sea Horse , and The Kitchen God. A strange collection overall.
Stand-outs were Mole, Sea Horse , and The Kitchen God. A strange collection overall.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Violence, Excrement
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
the author does a great job at taking you into a different mystical reality in each short story. though light-handed approaches to depictions of abuse, sex, and incest are a bit unnerving.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Incest, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This was so strange and surreal that it makes Murakami stories look normal. Almost all of the stories made me uncomfortable and they were more than bizarre. The story of the octopus man was wild.
I did find myself wanting more of a novella length for some of the stories. I wanted to know what happened to them. But that’s the magic of a well written short story, be they weird and incomprehensible like these or not.
I did find myself wanting more of a novella length for some of the stories. I wanted to know what happened to them. But that’s the magic of a well written short story, be they weird and incomprehensible like these or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Incest
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
I think what Kawakami is trying to do here is to use imagery and tropes from folktales and mythology so that her narrators can keep trauma and pain at a distance: oppression and suffering filtered through fairy tale.
It works really well for me, but it's definitely a difficult read.
It works really well for me, but it's definitely a difficult read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
this collection is overall very very strange and that definitely grew on me by the end of the book. i think there is a lot of love in the book, in all forms, and despite all the magic realism and mythological settings, the way the author writes that love and the characters and all gives a very "this is the human condition" feeling, which i appreciate. the other thing is that all the sexual content, the rape, the incest, etc. is all portrayed in such a matter of fact way; if you're looking for explorations of how that affects people, you're definitely not gonna get it here; i feel like the writing of these stories as a whole gives off a very nihilistic sort of perspective. there are no consequences, things just happen, the world goes on. at the same time i didn't feel like any of this was meant to be particularly titillating, which is interesting considering the frequency in which some of these topics occur in these stories lol. another thing that i'm not sure was really the point of these stories at all, but an interesting theme i think was the role of sex in interpersonal relationships; some characters feel entitled (the guy in the kitchen god, the guy in the roar, some of the men in sea horse), but in shimazaki and fox's den perhaps it serves as the backdrop to their relationships, they still quote-unquote love without any of that. i also appreciated the sort of outside perspective on humans and humanity in some of the stories, and how i dont think any of the non-humans characters ever wanted to become human nor stayed that way.
hokusai: kinda mid, i didn't really get it or the humour tbh. interesting premise. surprisingly i think this was the only short story that made me uncomfortable.
dragon palace: i liked it a little bit more than hokusai, i didn't really get the ending. not the most memorable tbh.
fox's den: i liked the way the yokai merged into the people, and the weird relationships
the kitchen god: this one was real fun, the way the other people viewed the kitchen god as a weasel, was it actually a weasel or not? the eating drywall, very fun.
mole: this one was a banger, i didn't catch the title at the start so it took me a while to realize they were moles. i loved how they viewed humanity and how they took care of the depressed ones, the way moles also had to go to work etc, did that come before or after humans? i didn't 100% get the ending about the glowing, but it was a fun (if partially confusing) read
the roar: very strange. my theory is that it's some kind of origin story, given that the narrator doesn't know his mother & all his sisters simply announce that without any particular connection etc.
shimazaki: i think what i liked most about this story was the way the narrator described what she liked about her ancestor, despite his old age; sort of a love between two old people type thing which i find nice (aside from the possible incest?) also an interesting imagination on society with even longer lifespans lol.
sea horse: honestly probably one of my favourites in this collection. i loved the overview of the woman's life, you could sort of get a sense of time and passing through the ages with her husbands. her interactions with her daughter and the dead one was interesting. i was curious about her relationship with the current husband. i felt that the way she decided she wanted to go back to the sea was abrupt--why now? but also maybe it doesn't matter.
edit: just so i dont forget to bring it up in book club...
post book club edit: one theory that we settled on (that i remember) was that family (wrt all the incest) in these books wasn't necessarily blood-relation but more so a stand-in for people who generally share the same ideology or perspective, etc., due to the very small casts in these stories (although short stories typically have smaller casts than novels...) and the way the author seems to decouple the act of sex from the idea of procreation & stereotypical/traditional familial roles... there also seems to be a heavy theme of nostalgia or hanging on to/returning to the past, which i think familial relationships also sort of helps serve that purpose... but who knows maybe the author is just really into this shit. there is also the (quite likely) possibility that we are missing some important cultural context through this translation as a lot of the stories seem to refer heavily to japanese myth/tradition/culture. idk this book is something else, i don't think i've ever read something quite like it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content
dark
tense
medium-paced
Dragon Palace is a collection of eight weird tales that will leave you pleasantly baffled or uncomfortable. I was not a fan of all the stories, which is typical for any short story collection. My favorite story is The Kitchen God, and my least favorite is, unfortunately, the one carrying the name of the collection - Dragon Palace. I will write short synopses for all eight stories and give individual ratings.
Hokusai
A depressed man meets an alleged octopus turned human, and they go bar hopping. The story is named after a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from the turn of the 19th century (Edo period), Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai's two iconic prints inspired this story: The Great Wave off Kanagawa and The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. I liked the imagery in the story and the theme of metamorphosis. 4 stars
Dragon Palace
This story is about a conversation between a woman and her great-great-grandmother Ito. When she was young, Ito had a prophetic dream that transformed her into a sex-obsessed goddess whose words enchant people. This story made me uncomfortable, and I failed to grasp the point of it. Kawakami utilizes repetition of a specific phrase (could be anaphora) to bring attention to the main character's inner struggle. Is Ito simply telling her life's story, or is she attempting something else? Dragon Palace has vivid imagery, and it would work well as a manga. Junji Ito would do a splendid job of adapting this story. Sadly, 2 stars.
Foxs Den
Caregiver falls in love with the fox-faced man she takes care of. Once again, the central theme is humans transforming into animals. This story comments on how many people have something animal-like about them, whether in their appearance or behavior. 3 stars
The Kitchen God
A woman discovers a three-faced kitchen God living in her kitchen. He scuttles around her apartment, and she feeds him. Whenever she needs to ignore her troubling thoughts, she prays to him. This story was cute and wholesome but also bizarre. I cannot explain why it appealed to me as much as it did. 5 stars
Mole
A couple of moles, husband and wife, live in an underground hole and collect humans in one of the rooms. Husband mole has an office job, and humans report to him about potential broken humans he can pick up and carry home. This story struck me as a metaphor for depression. There is nothing sinister going on. The moles observe the sleepy humans and occasionally talk to them. I adored this story and its cyclical structure. You follow a day and a night in a mole's life like a mole vlog. Maybe I have a soft spot for anthropomorphized animals. 5 stars
The Roar
A nameless boy lives with each of his strange and strikingly different seven older sisters. I do not have a comment for this story. It went over my head like a comet. Perhaps there is an underlying religious theme, but I am not sure. 2.5 stars
Shimazaki
A 100-year-old woman falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. This story felt like an incestuous prototype for Kawakami's novel Strange Weather in Tokyo. Two older protagonists develop a complex relationship. They become close as they spend a lot of time together, but there is an insurmountable emotional gap between them. She wishes he was more affectionate, and he claims she does not love him the way he loves her. It is a slow slice-of-life story. 3 stars
Sea Horse
A woman who used to be a sea horse describes how she left the ocean, her life on land, and her mistreatment by her many husbands. She has four children with her current husband. The fourth child is a girl, different from her brothers because she is similar to her mother. The daughter has an intense desire to spend the rest of her life in the ocean. This was a sad story. The woman's life made me sad, and I sincerely hoped she would get a happy ending. 5 stars
Sea Horse perfectly rounds off the collection thematically. Once again, the central theme is transformation and its consequences. When comparing the first story about an octopus-man and the last story about the sea horse-woman, I notice the striking, but not surprising, difference between the characters. Octopus man has agency. He actively pursues his goal and accomplishes his missions. On the other hand, after she arrived on land, the sea horse woman ended up chained and passed from husband to husband. She had no freedom, no autonomy. Dragon Palace was an odd collection of fantastical stories about themes with deeply human roots. I hoped I would enjoy it more, but some stories were not my brand of weird. Ted Goossen did a marvelous job translating these meaningful but strange tales.
Thank you Netgalley for the review copy!
Hokusai
A depressed man meets an alleged octopus turned human, and they go bar hopping. The story is named after a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from the turn of the 19th century (Edo period), Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai's two iconic prints inspired this story: The Great Wave off Kanagawa and The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. I liked the imagery in the story and the theme of metamorphosis. 4 stars
Dragon Palace
This story is about a conversation between a woman and her great-great-grandmother Ito. When she was young, Ito had a prophetic dream that transformed her into a sex-obsessed goddess whose words enchant people. This story made me uncomfortable, and I failed to grasp the point of it. Kawakami utilizes repetition of a specific phrase (could be anaphora) to bring attention to the main character's inner struggle. Is Ito simply telling her life's story, or is she attempting something else? Dragon Palace has vivid imagery, and it would work well as a manga. Junji Ito would do a splendid job of adapting this story. Sadly, 2 stars.
Foxs Den
Caregiver falls in love with the fox-faced man she takes care of. Once again, the central theme is humans transforming into animals. This story comments on how many people have something animal-like about them, whether in their appearance or behavior. 3 stars
The Kitchen God
A woman discovers a three-faced kitchen God living in her kitchen. He scuttles around her apartment, and she feeds him. Whenever she needs to ignore her troubling thoughts, she prays to him. This story was cute and wholesome but also bizarre. I cannot explain why it appealed to me as much as it did. 5 stars
Mole
A couple of moles, husband and wife, live in an underground hole and collect humans in one of the rooms. Husband mole has an office job, and humans report to him about potential broken humans he can pick up and carry home. This story struck me as a metaphor for depression. There is nothing sinister going on. The moles observe the sleepy humans and occasionally talk to them. I adored this story and its cyclical structure. You follow a day and a night in a mole's life like a mole vlog. Maybe I have a soft spot for anthropomorphized animals. 5 stars
The Roar
A nameless boy lives with each of his strange and strikingly different seven older sisters. I do not have a comment for this story. It went over my head like a comet. Perhaps there is an underlying religious theme, but I am not sure. 2.5 stars
Shimazaki
A 100-year-old woman falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. This story felt like an incestuous prototype for Kawakami's novel Strange Weather in Tokyo. Two older protagonists develop a complex relationship. They become close as they spend a lot of time together, but there is an insurmountable emotional gap between them. She wishes he was more affectionate, and he claims she does not love him the way he loves her. It is a slow slice-of-life story. 3 stars
Sea Horse
A woman who used to be a sea horse describes how she left the ocean, her life on land, and her mistreatment by her many husbands. She has four children with her current husband. The fourth child is a girl, different from her brothers because she is similar to her mother. The daughter has an intense desire to spend the rest of her life in the ocean. This was a sad story. The woman's life made me sad, and I sincerely hoped she would get a happy ending. 5 stars
Sea Horse perfectly rounds off the collection thematically. Once again, the central theme is transformation and its consequences. When comparing the first story about an octopus-man and the last story about the sea horse-woman, I notice the striking, but not surprising, difference between the characters. Octopus man has agency. He actively pursues his goal and accomplishes his missions. On the other hand, after she arrived on land, the sea horse woman ended up chained and passed from husband to husband. She had no freedom, no autonomy. Dragon Palace was an odd collection of fantastical stories about themes with deeply human roots. I hoped I would enjoy it more, but some stories were not my brand of weird. Ted Goossen did a marvelous job translating these meaningful but strange tales.
Thank you Netgalley for the review copy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest