Book Review: Heaven, Mieko Kawakami

 Heaven, Mieko Kawakami

Read: 23 - 25/08/2023

My rating: 4 /5 stars

Book of 2023: 9

In a Japanese school, we meet a fourteen-year-old boy. Subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye, he chooses to suffer in silence instead of fighting back. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate, Kojima, who experiences similar treatment at the hands of her bullies. Providing each other with consolation at a time in their lives when they need it most, the two young friends grow closer than ever. But what, ultimately, is the nature of a friendship when your shared bond is terror?

Unflinching yet tender, sharply observed, intimate and multi-layered, Heaven stands as yet another dazzling testament to Mieko Kawakami’s uncontainable talent. Simple but profound, there can be little doubt that it has cemented her reputation as one of the most important young authors at work today.

I read Breasts and Eggs already and so Evie T and I did a book swap so we could read the other. I took it with me to Mallorca and began queuing in Palma airport waiting to be let through passport control. Kids were running around it and I was suffering the afflictions that come with being a brit abroad embarrassed by brits abroad, but still, Kawakami drew me in with the magical descriptions that litter her work. 

I finished the book in two days, stretched out on a balcony in the sun, waiting for Natalia, on strict instructions to not stress or plan or be my usual Virgo-self. I simply reclined, and read, dripping in sun cream and sweat, sunglasses resting on my nose, sipping water and eating crusty bread. The book didn’t take long to finish, I felt pulled to its pages. 

‘We’ll understand some things while we’re alive and some after we die. But it doesn’t really matter when it happens. What matters is that all the pain and all the sadness have meaning. (62)

Heaven is a tough read but Kawakami has such a beautiful eye and writing style to capture it in. She harnesses pain and complexity so vividly. I resonated with, or at least empathised with the loneliness, the isolation of our characters. 

‘I asked myself if I was sad, but I’d lost touch with what sadness was supposed to be.’ (105)

It poses questions of morality, of good and evil, of what people are “allowed” to do. About what we feel, and what meaning that has. Does anything we do matter? Should we just do what brings us satisfaction, regardless of morality? Regardless of who gets hurt?

‘Everyone just does what they want. They have these urges, so they try to satisfy them. Nothing’s good or bad.’ (114)

‘Listen, if there’s a hell, we’re in it. And if there’s a heaven, we’re already there.’ (120)

Kawakami is a treat to read, and I'm reading All the Lovers in the Night next for certain. She captures a feeling brilliantly, and I'm constantly reaching for something to write her words down with. Highly recommend.

I think I preferred this to Breasts and Eggs but I can't be sure. I supposed it isn't about that. It's about reading different stories, exploring different world, opening yourself up to different viewpoints, emotions, realities, possibilities, perspectives. It's a wonderful thing, reading. I'm very fond of it. I'll leave you with this quote:

By the way, I wanted to ask you. What is it you like about reading? (12).