Book reviews of Hiromi Kawakami: Strange Weather in Tokyo and Manazuru

 

I picked up Strange Weather in Tokyo on a whim at the Kinokunia. I had no idea who the author was, but the quirky title and the elevated running woman was enough for me to open my wallet to it. And two weeks later, I found myself scrambling to find more of Hiromi Kawakami's books. And bought an additional copy of Strange Weather in Tokyo for a friend (who I think sounds exactly like the lead character), while I waited anxiously for Manazuru to arrive. When it did, I finished the book over the weekend and went to work tired, sleepy, and fully satisfied. 

There is just so much to love about Hiromi Kawakami's stories. She is an excellent story teller with an expert grasp of the human consciousness. With her words, she paints a narrative on the canvas of our mind, carefully fitting in each piece into the mind's structure. It is a story that is told to us the way that we would remember it by using an economy of words and expressions that creates the extraordinary out of the ordinary. But I am getting ahead of myself. For those of you who are thinking of picking up either of the books, here's a spoiler alert (not that it matters), basically, the lead characters fell in love and spend most of their time grappling with love. That is the skeleton of Hiromi Kawakami's narrative, with Manazuru exploring lost love, while Strange Weather in Tokyo exploring new love.  

Hiromi's works brings out the delicate sensibilities of a middle aged woman who has wrapped her youthful heart around timeless feelings. In her characters, I found a child-like quality without its the naive innocence that so plagues love stories. It is a love story that is believable, even in Manazuru's wildest concoction of dramatic landscapes, ghosts, and imagination. But what I am most amazed at with Hiromi is her ability to completely naturalise the unreliability of the character's account. At many points in Strange Weather in Tokyo, I looked up from the pages and closed my eyes, just so I could take a moment to appreciate the common threads of emotions and thoughts that I share with the character. 

I will not hesitate in recommending this book to everyone, although, I would say that both books pitch to very different audiences. With Strange Weather in Tokyo, you are led through different states of the character's consciousness through an economic telling of the story. Things move in the pace of our modern day relationships and the mysteries, though fascinating, can be glossed over without losing the grasp of the plot. However, this is reversed with Manazuru; in Manazuru, you would have to be a little more patient and plough through the mysterious language of a heart broken soul to appreciate the flow of the storyline. In terms of pacing, Strange Weather in Tokyo feels like an elegant and steady rhythm with gentle melodies, while Manazuru have a more complex gothic harmony that interweave long and short melodies hauntingly. 

I cannot praise these books enough and I highly recommend them to everyone.