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sophee_568's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.5
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
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