Ms Ice Sandwich: Mieko Kawakami (Japanese Novellas)

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The second book from Pushkin Press's Japanese Novellas series which I am going to review today is Ms Ice Sandwich by Kawakami Mieko (yes, she shares the same last name as Kawakami Hiromi whose Record of a Night Too Brief I reviewed last week, but the two authors have no relation whatsoever as far as I am concerned).

No, not because the author is Japanese, but because the main character and the whole novel carry a ‘Ghibli’ feeling of hope with it that I absolutely loved. Yet this light banter resolves itself, slowly, into a poignant consideration of relationships and their fragility. I can’t help but think that it was hard for him to empathise because he lacked the experience; and I found it hard to explain to him what he can never experience ever again. When he descibes the lady, he places specific emphasis on the beautiful characteristics of her face and her "ice-blue eyelids" which earned her the nickname Ms Ice Sandwich. This is an age where you suddenly sense the world is not a idyllic utopia but can’t quite put your finger on why not and are left to scramble and make sense of it all as innocence crumbles around you.Three hundred forty-nine books, hundred thirty eight minutes, forty-two contemplations it took for me to start reading this one. It’s like there’s a barrier of barbed wire or something, except it’s invisible, that keeps us away from them. Another issue this short novella tackles is, of course, difference and how people and the society deal with people who are "different".

Instead, it is a fascinating, touching and quiet coming-of-age story with a plethora of lessons to be taught and inspiring passages. About a half-dozen are available in English, and her best-known ones in English are Breasts and Eggs and Heaven. Again, I’m always so glad to have your insight into literature and your participation in the Japanese Literature Challenge(s). However, the principal character was endearing and their attempts to understand human interaction was charming .When school resumes he cannot spend as much time watching the woman he has named in his head Ms Ice Sandwich. The women in his life - an aging grandmother, a distracted mother, an audacious female friend, the Ms.

Ms Ice Sandwich is shorter and simpler, but it’s a very convincing portrait of a lonely childhood and the confusing onrush of powerful feelings. EXPERTLY translated (and I know I'm very particular, I can't help it - see my review of Dandelions たんぽぽ). The boy would like to tell Tutti about Ms Ice Sandwich, especially when other classmates make derogatory comments about her looks. Essentially love songs/love poems and other similar kinds of dedications are more about the creators themselves – their feelings – their views on the person they claim they love – and it also usually wavers between a sense of idolisation and only a fragment of what may be ‘true’ – which can be mildly dehumanising.

Overall, Ms Ice Sandwich is a very heart-warming and quiet novella about growing up, first love, loss and learning to cope with all these new feelings which inundate kids at that age all of a sudden. It’s honestly amazing how well she handles this because it feels so authentic to the way a child will ramble as if they, themselves, are still trying to understand what it is they are getting at without the narrative style feeling like a gimmick all the while remaining cohesive. There is a paradigm shift in all your relationships and you clamour to hold on and ride the changes into what you hope is a more mature You.

He has the impressions of it all in his head but when pressed to doing so he ‘ can’t think of any way to respond,’ and when he tries he tends to ‘ get stuck’ and ‘ can’t finish the sentence. I felt how much the contact with Ms Ice Sandwich means to him, how confused he is when nobody else seems to see what he sees in her. Sometimes it’s thinly veiled under humor, or bizarre situations, but I think they often point out what hurts us.I found this little novella strangely moving: Kawakami tells the story of a fourth grader who learns about loss.