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Dragon Palace
Included in The New Yorker's Best Books of 2023
From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories, each a masterpiece of transformation, infused with humor, sex, and the universal search for love and beauty—in a world where the laws of time and space, and even species boundaries, don’t apply.
Meet a shape-shifting con man, a goddess who uses sex to control her followers, an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit, a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor, a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block, moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live, a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters, and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.
From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories, each a masterpiece of transformation, infused with humor, sex, and the universal search for love and beauty—in a world where the laws of time and space, and even species boundaries, don’t apply.
Meet a shape-shifting con man, a goddess who uses sex to control her followers, an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit, a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor, a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block, moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live, a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters, and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 19, 2023
97 people are currently reading
3536 people want to read
About the author
Hiromi Kawakami
111 books3,565 followersKawakami Hiromi (川上弘美 Kawakami Hiromi) born April 1, 1958, is a Japanese writer known for her off-beat fiction.
Born in Tokyo, Kawakami graduated from Ochanomizu Women's College in 1980. She made her debut as "Yamada Hiromi" in NW-SF No. 16, edited by Yamano Koichi and Yamada Kazuko, in 1980 with the story So-shimoku ("Diptera"), and also helped edit some early issues of NW-SF in the 1970s. She reinvented herself as a writer and wrote her first book, a collection of short stories entitled God (Kamisama) published in 1994. Her novel The Teacher's Briefcase (Sensei no kaban) is a love story between a woman in her thirties and a man in his sixties. She is also known as a literary critic and a provocative essayist.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Tokyo, Kawakami graduated from Ochanomizu Women's College in 1980. She made her debut as "Yamada Hiromi" in NW-SF No. 16, edited by Yamano Koichi and Yamada Kazuko, in 1980 with the story So-shimoku ("Diptera"), and also helped edit some early issues of NW-SF in the 1970s. She reinvented herself as a writer and wrote her first book, a collection of short stories entitled God (Kamisama) published in 1994. Her novel The Teacher's Briefcase (Sensei no kaban) is a love story between a woman in her thirties and a man in his sixties. She is also known as a literary critic and a provocative essayist.
(from Wikipedia)
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April 24, 2024
Although humans like to think of ourselves as above the animal kingdom, we are still animals. With Hiromi Kawakami, we often find any distinction between human and animal to be rather tenuous, and in the eight stories found in her collection Dragon Palace, we not only find the characters’ personal identities to often be in flux and ambiguous but also their animalistic identity. ‘Each and every home contains at least one member who has something inhuman about them,’ a character advises in one story, and we see a spectrum of characters ranging from definitely human, to transitioning from animal to human, and many others who openly announce ‘I am not human.’ This new release, translated by Ted Goossen, is actually a collection mostly drawing from Hiromi Kawakami’s earlier stories but they all fit together quite nicely with overarching themes and an overall narrative feeling approaching folklore. An octopus becomes a human sex pest, an older woman commands a cult with sex, moles care for depressed humans, humans care for humans that might also be foxes, kitchens have gods living under the stove and more fantastical and fascinating occurrences go on in this collection. With gendered examinations on sexuality (often brushing up against the taboo) and sexual power dynamics, and a look at identity in outlandish situations, Hiromi Kawakami’s Dragon Palace is chock full of dark charm.
I’ve long loved the quietness of Kawakami’s narratives, the way she can make loneliness snuggle up with you like a cat on your lap, and the way a character’s day to day can shimmer in nearly overwhelming bittersweet emotion. There is certainly another side to her as well where she can crack open the world and pour out a dark magic that awaits just beneath the surface. Dragon Palace finds itself among the latter, feeling much more like Record of a Night Too Brief or the interconnected stories of People From My Neighborhood than, say, my personal favorite The Nakano Thrift Shop. Which isn’t a bad thing, I quite enjoy the whimsicality she finds in the bizarre and her ability to write stories that feel like folklore just outside of full understanding, I just tend to really love the softness of her writing in the former. Though I wonder, perhaps, how much of that is the brilliance of Allison Markin Powell’s translation, whereas both this and People From My Neighborhood were Goossen and have a more detatched feel to them not unlike how Haruki Murakami comes across in his (or really any other translator’s) translation. Not that this is necessarily negative, as it seamlessly moves between normal reality and the more bizarre moments without making them feel out of place which is a really key aspect to capture in her stories.
Like most of her work, Dragon Palace often steers situations towards the sexual and there appears to be a few themes for her explorations of it. Large age gaps are often present, such as in her beloved Strange Weather in Tokyo, and in Fox’s Den we read about a caretaker for the elderly who slowly falls into a sexual relationship with a man twice her age (after having earlier chastised him for sexual harassment) as well as the story Shimazaki where a woman falls in love with her ancestor who is now over 400 years old. With the latter, the idea seems to use romantic love to probe our ideas of what familial love is by approaching taboos, which is also common for Kawakami. I did find The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino to be rather problematic in this way though here it feels more symbolic like in a fairy tale. The story The Roar details the life of a character who is passed amongst his sisters, feeding from their breasts and marrying one of them. While I think “sister” is meant loosely here (maybe?), I’m curious why breastfeeding from an older sister is something that has now appeared in multiple of her books (it is used to convey the closeness of Nishino with his sister in The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino as well).
As with much of the more bizarre aspects in her more magical tales, Kawakami seems to be pushing the envelope on ideas of relationships and love into the taboo as a sort of social commentary on how couched our ideas are in social norms. I don’t, however, find it nearly as effective as, say, Sayaka Murata who puts her finger more directly on the topic and guides the reader towards that understanding in what is usually a more shocking manner.
Though the stories here certainly explore sexual power dynamics through many of these moments. Two of the stronger stories bookend this collection and both feature an animal that has turned human, the first being an octopus who became a man in order to seduce women and the latter being a sea horse who was drawn to the love of a man and has spent decades being objectified and passed from husband to husband as a sort of trophy (it made me want to revisit Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy which opens with a revenge tale of sorts for that type of situation). The juxtaposition takes a stab at the way unequal sexual power dynamics are often socially normalized such as the narrator engaging in some rather misogynistic bonding and finding it completely normal, even ‘liberating’ as he says.
Which is all undeniably gross and I’m certain the woman they chase through the streets as she runs for her safety does not find the experience liberating. Nor does the sea horse turned woman find being objectified to be liberating and instead seeks to return to the ocean, as does her daughter (that her sons have no ocean-tendencies but the daughter seems so much like her nudges the theme as well). In Kawakami stories we notice the taboo sexuality, though the fact that sex can often be a horror story for women who are assaulted, objectified or otherwise abused is something that is commonplace. The Kitchen God, for instance, has a sexual assault occur late in the story that passes with hardly any recognition (that aside, it is easily my favorite story in the collection, following a young woman with kleptomania and the society of older women in her housing complex, but also a kitchen god spirit). The title story Dragon Palace, however, throws the dynamic out of whack and features a woman revered like a cult leader who uses sexuality to keep her followers in line, and they in turn using it against her.
‘I didn't know my own name. I didn't know why I had been born into this world. I had no idea what would become of me.’
Though not everything about this collection is entirely sexual, don’t let me give the wrong impression. A rather charming story tilted Mole features—you guessed it!—a mole who picks up depressed humans and brings them into his hole until they recover. The humans have ‘lost the energy to stay alive,’ but ‘ this does not mean they are dead. Apparently, dying requires actual strength,’ and when he identifies their condition they shrink down to a size that can fit in his pocket. This story also addresses the ideas of animals in our own society, with him working an office job long enough that people mostly don’t notice anymore. I like the tenderness of this one as well and shows a strong idea of community because the loss of human to this condition has a ripple effect:
This loss of substance seems to permeate this collection, with ideas of identity being a sort of substance the characters are unsure what to do with. The octopus, for instance, is unsure if he is octopus or man at times and feels he’s lost that connection to the ocean (likely why he often shifts into ‘an undulating, shape-shifting blob’ with the frail grasp on identity), and much of The Roar deals with having no idea of ones own purpose. Are we animals just following instinct and surviving, or are we some grand idea of humans with a purpose, and does chasing the belief in the latter lead us to despair?
Hiromi Kawakami is a drop-everything-to-read author for me and I’m glad I did that with Dragon Palace despite being a tad underwhelmed at times. That said, I read this fairly slowly which seemed to help, as I’d often find myself thinking of the stories for several days and enjoying them more the longer I turned them over in my head. She has such a wonderful use of whimsicality, and while these are rather dark stories they still feel effervescent in the mind while you read them. A strange yet ultimately satisfying collection.
3.5/5
I’ve long loved the quietness of Kawakami’s narratives, the way she can make loneliness snuggle up with you like a cat on your lap, and the way a character’s day to day can shimmer in nearly overwhelming bittersweet emotion. There is certainly another side to her as well where she can crack open the world and pour out a dark magic that awaits just beneath the surface. Dragon Palace finds itself among the latter, feeling much more like Record of a Night Too Brief or the interconnected stories of People From My Neighborhood than, say, my personal favorite The Nakano Thrift Shop. Which isn’t a bad thing, I quite enjoy the whimsicality she finds in the bizarre and her ability to write stories that feel like folklore just outside of full understanding, I just tend to really love the softness of her writing in the former. Though I wonder, perhaps, how much of that is the brilliance of Allison Markin Powell’s translation, whereas both this and People From My Neighborhood were Goossen and have a more detatched feel to them not unlike how Haruki Murakami comes across in his (or really any other translator’s) translation. Not that this is necessarily negative, as it seamlessly moves between normal reality and the more bizarre moments without making them feel out of place which is a really key aspect to capture in her stories.
Like most of her work, Dragon Palace often steers situations towards the sexual and there appears to be a few themes for her explorations of it. Large age gaps are often present, such as in her beloved Strange Weather in Tokyo, and in Fox’s Den we read about a caretaker for the elderly who slowly falls into a sexual relationship with a man twice her age (after having earlier chastised him for sexual harassment) as well as the story Shimazaki where a woman falls in love with her ancestor who is now over 400 years old. With the latter, the idea seems to use romantic love to probe our ideas of what familial love is by approaching taboos, which is also common for Kawakami. I did find The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino to be rather problematic in this way though here it feels more symbolic like in a fairy tale. The story The Roar details the life of a character who is passed amongst his sisters, feeding from their breasts and marrying one of them. While I think “sister” is meant loosely here (maybe?), I’m curious why breastfeeding from an older sister is something that has now appeared in multiple of her books (it is used to convey the closeness of Nishino with his sister in The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino as well).
As with much of the more bizarre aspects in her more magical tales, Kawakami seems to be pushing the envelope on ideas of relationships and love into the taboo as a sort of social commentary on how couched our ideas are in social norms. I don’t, however, find it nearly as effective as, say, Sayaka Murata who puts her finger more directly on the topic and guides the reader towards that understanding in what is usually a more shocking manner.
Though the stories here certainly explore sexual power dynamics through many of these moments. Two of the stronger stories bookend this collection and both feature an animal that has turned human, the first being an octopus who became a man in order to seduce women and the latter being a sea horse who was drawn to the love of a man and has spent decades being objectified and passed from husband to husband as a sort of trophy (it made me want to revisit Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy which opens with a revenge tale of sorts for that type of situation). The juxtaposition takes a stab at the way unequal sexual power dynamics are often socially normalized such as the narrator engaging in some rather misogynistic bonding and finding it completely normal, even ‘liberating’ as he says.
‘I felt strangely liberated. I stood there assigning numbers and adjectives to each woman that came by, one after another. In the process, they stopped being individuals with personalities and real lives.’
Which is all undeniably gross and I’m certain the woman they chase through the streets as she runs for her safety does not find the experience liberating. Nor does the sea horse turned woman find being objectified to be liberating and instead seeks to return to the ocean, as does her daughter (that her sons have no ocean-tendencies but the daughter seems so much like her nudges the theme as well). In Kawakami stories we notice the taboo sexuality, though the fact that sex can often be a horror story for women who are assaulted, objectified or otherwise abused is something that is commonplace. The Kitchen God, for instance, has a sexual assault occur late in the story that passes with hardly any recognition (that aside, it is easily my favorite story in the collection, following a young woman with kleptomania and the society of older women in her housing complex, but also a kitchen god spirit). The title story Dragon Palace, however, throws the dynamic out of whack and features a woman revered like a cult leader who uses sexuality to keep her followers in line, and they in turn using it against her.
‘I didn't know my own name. I didn't know why I had been born into this world. I had no idea what would become of me.’
Though not everything about this collection is entirely sexual, don’t let me give the wrong impression. A rather charming story tilted Mole features—you guessed it!—a mole who picks up depressed humans and brings them into his hole until they recover. The humans have ‘lost the energy to stay alive,’ but ‘ this does not mean they are dead. Apparently, dying requires actual strength,’ and when he identifies their condition they shrink down to a size that can fit in his pocket. This story also addresses the ideas of animals in our own society, with him working an office job long enough that people mostly don’t notice anymore. I like the tenderness of this one as well and shows a strong idea of community because the loss of human to this condition has a ripple effect:
‘If left alone, they hollow out. First, they themselves, then the place where they stand, then ultimately the entire area around them empties. All real substance is lost.’
This loss of substance seems to permeate this collection, with ideas of identity being a sort of substance the characters are unsure what to do with. The octopus, for instance, is unsure if he is octopus or man at times and feels he’s lost that connection to the ocean (likely why he often shifts into ‘an undulating, shape-shifting blob’ with the frail grasp on identity), and much of The Roar deals with having no idea of ones own purpose. Are we animals just following instinct and surviving, or are we some grand idea of humans with a purpose, and does chasing the belief in the latter lead us to despair?
Hiromi Kawakami is a drop-everything-to-read author for me and I’m glad I did that with Dragon Palace despite being a tad underwhelmed at times. That said, I read this fairly slowly which seemed to help, as I’d often find myself thinking of the stories for several days and enjoying them more the longer I turned them over in my head. She has such a wonderful use of whimsicality, and while these are rather dark stories they still feel effervescent in the mind while you read them. A strange yet ultimately satisfying collection.
3.5/5
October 17, 2023
I gave it 3.5 stars.
Dragon Palace is a collection of 8 short stories that mainly revolve around mythology, surrealism, magic, and animal transformations.
Although the stories can be challenging to read and may require an open mind, they are always rewarding.
The fantasy stories may not be everyone's cup of tea, and whether you enjoy them or not will depend on your personal preferences.
Personally, I find these types of stories not easy to read, but they are still memorable.
I loved her book "Strange Weather in Tokyo."
Dragon Palace is a collection of 8 short stories that mainly revolve around mythology, surrealism, magic, and animal transformations.
Although the stories can be challenging to read and may require an open mind, they are always rewarding.
The fantasy stories may not be everyone's cup of tea, and whether you enjoy them or not will depend on your personal preferences.
Personally, I find these types of stories not easy to read, but they are still memorable.
I loved her book "Strange Weather in Tokyo."
October 28, 2023
Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami ( translated by Ted Goossen) is a fascinating collection of short stories that revolve around themes of transformation, human behavior and emotion and surrealism.
In the first story Hokusai (3/5), we follow a strange encounter between a depressed young man and a person who claims to have once been an octopus. In Dragon Palace (4/5), a young woman is visited by her great-grandmother, who was once a god who used a creative method of manipulating her followers. Fox’s Den(3/5) follows the relationship between a fifty-three-year-old caregiver and her elderly patient. In Mole (5/5), we meet an anthropomorphized who holds an office job in the human world and shelters unhappy and lonely human beings in his home in an underground hole. We follow a married young woman, unhappy with her life and interactions with her boyfriend, neighbors and the deity that inhabits her kitchen in The Kitchen God (4/5). The Roar (3/5)chronicles a young boy’s life as he grows u in the boy grows up in the successive care of his older sisters, each of whom is very different. We meet a woman who is in a relationship with her four-hundred-year-old ancestor in Shimazaki (3.5/5). A woman who was once asea horse recalls her life on land, her yearning for the ocean and her thoughts about her husbands and children, one of whom is like her in Sea Horse (5/5).
With simple language and striking imagery and symbolism, the author takes us on an enthralling journey with unique characters and their interesting (to put it mildly!) backstories. The stories are inspired by folklore and myth and heavily rely upon metaphors and magical realism to present the human condition and the similarities and differences in human and animal instincts. Though I can’t say that I enjoyed all the stories in equal measure, overall, Hiromi Kawakami does not disappoint!
Many thanks to Stone Bridge Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this collection of stories. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This collection of stories was published on September 19, 2023.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
In the first story Hokusai (3/5), we follow a strange encounter between a depressed young man and a person who claims to have once been an octopus. In Dragon Palace (4/5), a young woman is visited by her great-grandmother, who was once a god who used a creative method of manipulating her followers. Fox’s Den(3/5) follows the relationship between a fifty-three-year-old caregiver and her elderly patient. In Mole (5/5), we meet an anthropomorphized who holds an office job in the human world and shelters unhappy and lonely human beings in his home in an underground hole. We follow a married young woman, unhappy with her life and interactions with her boyfriend, neighbors and the deity that inhabits her kitchen in The Kitchen God (4/5). The Roar (3/5)chronicles a young boy’s life as he grows u in the boy grows up in the successive care of his older sisters, each of whom is very different. We meet a woman who is in a relationship with her four-hundred-year-old ancestor in Shimazaki (3.5/5). A woman who was once asea horse recalls her life on land, her yearning for the ocean and her thoughts about her husbands and children, one of whom is like her in Sea Horse (5/5).
With simple language and striking imagery and symbolism, the author takes us on an enthralling journey with unique characters and their interesting (to put it mildly!) backstories. The stories are inspired by folklore and myth and heavily rely upon metaphors and magical realism to present the human condition and the similarities and differences in human and animal instincts. Though I can’t say that I enjoyed all the stories in equal measure, overall, Hiromi Kawakami does not disappoint!
Many thanks to Stone Bridge Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this collection of stories. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This collection of stories was published on September 19, 2023.
Connect with me! ✏ Instagram ✏ My Blog ✏ The StoryGraph
August 9, 2023
The eight pieces collected here were first published in 2002, and reflect Hiromi Kawakami’s earlier preoccupation with fantastical and metaphorical forms of storytelling. Kawakami’s stories draw on a diverse range of sources from Shintō and Buddhist traditions to Japanese folklore and fairytales. The richly evocative “Hokusai” builds on the artist’s now-infamous “Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” referencing its imagery to form an oblique commentary on destructive masculinity and a misogyny that serves as distraction from harsh economic realities and increasing social fragmentation. Themes that resurface in “The Roar” and later in “Sea Horse” a melancholy twist on a folk tale, in which the experiences of an unearthly woman from the sea raises the spectre of patriarchy and generations of domestic violence, although it also holds out hope of ending the cycle. The absurdist “Dragon Palace” and slightly surreal “The Kitchen God��� also deal with issues of gender and oppression, as well as the disconnect between the modern world and traditional beliefs. Although “The Kitchen God” is probably the more memorable of the two: Kawakami’s skilful use of animal symbolism working to expose an outwardly-conventional housewife’s ongoing trauma, as Izumi strives to rebel against social expectations, stifling domesticity and predatory men. Loss of connection with the past, with history, and crucially with nature are key aspects of stories like “Shimazaki” and “Fox’s Den” an earthy, unsettling variation on legends of the fox-like, kitsune spirits. Questions of mortality, transience and alienation pervade many of these pieces but are strikingly highlighted in fable-like “Mole.” Here Kawakami seems to be interrogating broader cultural notions of the centrality of ties between people (kizuna) as well as between human and animal. The story’s narrated by a mole who somehow moves between human and animal spheres, working in a city office by day, retreating to his underground den by night. The blatant discrimination the mole faces from his human co-workers exposes the deep cracks and fissures crisscrossing urban society. His supernatural abilities enable him to identify despairing humans, adding them to a menagerie of sorts in which they’ll either die or return to the outside restored. Kawakami’s short fiction here is sometimes wickedly perverse and sometimes puzzlingly elliptical but always richly imaginative. Translated by Ted Goossen.
Thanks to Netgalley UK and publisher Stone Bridge Press for an ARC
Thanks to Netgalley UK and publisher Stone Bridge Press for an ARC
June 2, 2024
It was a mistake that I chose this book to read because, despite my dislike of magical realism and fantasy themes, I thought it would be quick. Even though I enjoyed a few of the stories from this collection, most of them fell flat. I suppose the magical events slightly put me off, even though they were absurd and cynical. This is entirely my fault and has nothing to do with the book.
Story 1: Hokusai -★☆☆☆☆
An odd meeting between a man and an octopus posing as a man, went right over my head; there was a philosophy there that I was unable to understand.
Story 2: Dragon palace-★★☆☆☆
things start to get weird when your sex-obsessed bisexual goddess great-grandmother comes to visit. Similar to the last story, I was unable to get the purpose of this one as well. I believe there's some deeper meaning here that I am missing but if there's none then it's simply an amazing imagery lacking context, which is poor writing.
Story 3: Fox's den-★★☆☆☆
Caretaker develops feelings for a man with a fox face. Similar to Dragon Palace, after finishing this one, I felt conflicting emotions. Although I could appreciate the absurdity of the story, it doesn't mean that I like it.
Story 4: Kitchen god-★★★☆☆
In her kitchen, a woman finds a three-faced kitchen god. She feeds him while he scutters around her apartment. She prays to him whenever she needs to push away her unsettling thoughts. This was a strange, but happy, narrative. This was also, without a doubt, my favorite; there was something so understatedly darkly appealing about it.
Story 5: Mole-★★★★☆
A married couple of moles inhabit a subterranean tunnel and gather humans in one of the chambers. Husband Mole works in an office, and others send him reports about possible broken people that he can pick up and take home. I found this story to be even more enjoyable than the last one, and I could relate to its pessimistic theme. It struck me as having visuals that was interesting to think about.
Story 6: Roar-★★☆☆☆
a boy's life journey where, at one point, he lives with one of his sisters, each of whom represents a different stage of the boy's development. The story didn't excite me, even though I grasped its premise; instead of focusing on a single topic, it could have explored a lot more ground.
Story 7: Shimazaki-★★☆☆☆
A 100-year-old woman falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. Alright, so this was kind of an odd and unusual love tale that, given the book's premise, obviously ended tragically.
Story 8: Sea horse-★★★☆☆
A former sea horse talks about leaving the water, her life on land, and the abuse she endured from her several spouses. The narrative about returning home and how your heart is there was quite depressing.
Story 1: Hokusai -★☆☆☆☆
An odd meeting between a man and an octopus posing as a man, went right over my head; there was a philosophy there that I was unable to understand.
Story 2: Dragon palace-★★☆☆☆
things start to get weird when your sex-obsessed bisexual goddess great-grandmother comes to visit. Similar to the last story, I was unable to get the purpose of this one as well. I believe there's some deeper meaning here that I am missing but if there's none then it's simply an amazing imagery lacking context, which is poor writing.
Story 3: Fox's den-★★☆☆☆
Caretaker develops feelings for a man with a fox face. Similar to Dragon Palace, after finishing this one, I felt conflicting emotions. Although I could appreciate the absurdity of the story, it doesn't mean that I like it.
Story 4: Kitchen god-★★★☆☆
In her kitchen, a woman finds a three-faced kitchen god. She feeds him while he scutters around her apartment. She prays to him whenever she needs to push away her unsettling thoughts. This was a strange, but happy, narrative. This was also, without a doubt, my favorite; there was something so understatedly darkly appealing about it.
Story 5: Mole-★★★★☆
A married couple of moles inhabit a subterranean tunnel and gather humans in one of the chambers. Husband Mole works in an office, and others send him reports about possible broken people that he can pick up and take home. I found this story to be even more enjoyable than the last one, and I could relate to its pessimistic theme. It struck me as having visuals that was interesting to think about.
Story 6: Roar-★★☆☆☆
a boy's life journey where, at one point, he lives with one of his sisters, each of whom represents a different stage of the boy's development. The story didn't excite me, even though I grasped its premise; instead of focusing on a single topic, it could have explored a lot more ground.
Story 7: Shimazaki-★★☆☆☆
A 100-year-old woman falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. Alright, so this was kind of an odd and unusual love tale that, given the book's premise, obviously ended tragically.
Story 8: Sea horse-★★★☆☆
A former sea horse talks about leaving the water, her life on land, and the abuse she endured from her several spouses. The narrative about returning home and how your heart is there was quite depressing.
July 22, 2023
Hiromi Kawakami never fails to surprise and delight me. Dragon Palace is a collection of short stories around the theme of transformation. The transformations range from moles becoming part of the human world and assisting humans when they become melancholy or, as in Sea Horse, a creature who is captured by a human man and forced to live as his wife before he passes her to another husband and so on until the call of the ocean becomes too much for the sea horse.
I think my favourite story (probably because it was the strangest) was Kitchen God which is about an entity who lives in a woman's home because her attitude is good (not every home can boast a kitchen god). The god is worshipped and bestows it's benevolence on the woman. Strange.
I've been a fan of Japanese literary fiction for a while and there are some names that have me pressing the request button before I know what I'm letting myself in for. Kawakami doesn't stray as far into the visceral as Murata but her use of language and imagination are every bit as diverse.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance review copy.
I think my favourite story (probably because it was the strangest) was Kitchen God which is about an entity who lives in a woman's home because her attitude is good (not every home can boast a kitchen god). The god is worshipped and bestows it's benevolence on the woman. Strange.
I've been a fan of Japanese literary fiction for a while and there are some names that have me pressing the request button before I know what I'm letting myself in for. Kawakami doesn't stray as far into the visceral as Murata but her use of language and imagination are every bit as diverse.
Thanks to Netgalley for the advance review copy.
Read
September 10, 2023Dragon Palace is another fantastic collection of short stories from one of modern Japan’s most beloved and popular authors, Hiromi Kawakami.
Across 160 pages, readers are presented with eight tales of transformation. All of them are written in the first person, from the perspectives of women and men who transform or witness transformation in some way.
Inspired by myths and folklore, with occasional reference to Buddhism and the many deities of Shintoism, these stories feature half-humans born in the ocean depths and people possessed by the spirits of gods and ancestors.
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/japanese-shor...
Across 160 pages, readers are presented with eight tales of transformation. All of them are written in the first person, from the perspectives of women and men who transform or witness transformation in some way.
Inspired by myths and folklore, with occasional reference to Buddhism and the many deities of Shintoism, these stories feature half-humans born in the ocean depths and people possessed by the spirits of gods and ancestors.
My full thoughts: https://booksandbao.com/japanese-shor...
October 8, 2023
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!
September 24, 2023
A strangely compelling collection of short stories with lots of bizarre elements. Kitchen gods, transformations (from octopus to human, human to sea horse), strange relationships, a mole that collects depressed humans….. yes it’s a bit weird but it reads like all the situations are perfectly normal so magical realism I guess. Very enjoyable.
September 13, 2023
A solid 4.5 stars from me. Huge thanks to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Dragon's Palace is a bizzare, magnanimously eccentric collection of 8 short stories that both enlighten and confused me. Its fantastical elements and cultural disposition sprinkled throughout its stories are actually clever because they were imbued with social commentary disguised as fictional narrative. Kawakami's stories derived elements from Shinto and Buddhism, Japanese folklore and fairytales thus creating metaphorical & magical storytelling in her earlier works. I can see why people may be turned off by this book because of how confusing and seemingly nonsensical each of these stories can be. But once you delve deeper and concentrate on what message can you take away from each of them, you will realize how deceptively genius Kawakami is for crafting such bizzare, absurdist tale out of folklore &Japanese fairytales into stories that pervade modern society. To be fair, I will rate each of the stories by its own and i will be honest, i like most of them but only 2 felt a bit too overboard and make me uncomfortable with their wild nature. In a world infested with love, jealousu, infatuation, sex and otherworldly being, this collection trasncend time and generations. With a man claimed to be an octopus gallivanting the town scrounging money from a young guy, a goddess like deity intense copulation with her many followers, a mythical fox like man grappling with age & mortality, a woman dealing with the Kitchen God with three faces in an apartment block attacked by weasels, a man being cared by different sisters as he grew up, a mole couple that took depressive humans into their underground burrow & a woman who are passed from men to men as husbands while missing her life in the ocean.
1. Hokusai - 4 ✨️
Based on the famed Hokusai's painting, A fishermen, this story allude to a man whom confessed he was once an octopus but he lives on the land as human now. We followed a young man searching for a meaning in life sort of coming of age story for him when he encountered this man galivanting around, boozes and sex. No idea what the story is about but i fairly enjoy it for how absurd it is
2. Dragon's Palace - 3✨️
Heavily inspired by folklore, this story started with a small cult, a couple prostrating or deifying a goddes, old in age but youthful in appearance. The story was told in two POV, the 3rd POV reflected on the history of the cult as she gained massive following and the weird sexualized relationships she has with her members, then moving around the town finally bearing children. The first POV talk more on the great grandaughter as she met with the goddes. Im baffled by this story, it felts so ridiculous and too promiscous for my taste. So not a fan of this one.
3. Fox's Den - 4✨️
Surprisingly, this was quite an interesting one. Age being a factor in the story
4. Kitchen God - 4.5✨️
This reminded me slightly of Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai, the style of a housewife taking comfort in her apartment with mindless rambling of her day to day life. She can see an apparition of a Kitchen God whom she met since she ever live in the apartment, this may signify her wanting to stay in a past time protected by the warmth of her mother as she reminisce the good memories. There are scenes of her affairs, the sort of gossips she heard among the neighbours, her peaceful life with her husband.
5. Shimazaki - 4✨️
6. The Roar -3✨️
Borderline uncomfortable, tbh as it used the fairytale like esque to the story telling. With the narrative showed the man from his childhood, his older sister breastfeeding him when he was a baby, then passed to anothet sister as he grew up, developing feelings with another, eventually married the last sister he met. Unable to grasp the innuendo, its a little bit absurd to my taste
7. Mole -5✨️
I love this! It reminded me a lot of Convenience store woman in a sense the mole can be taken as Tanuki, a racoon being that can transform into human but in here, the Mole had adapted himself to human like behaviour as he goes to the work acting as a human and how the human co-workers doenst even glance or acknowledged him sort of like treating him distantly. And the fact their home become a place for people who cannot stand tghe world, wanting to run away feom life or auicidal was pretty intriguing
8. Sea Horse -5✨️
The last stories left a huge impact on me. For the first time after reading through all of the stories, arriving here, i have understand the nature of Kawakami's character and expected the true form of her character. Izumi was once a non-human being from the sea and turn into human, having being attracted to a male on the land. There is a theme of oppression and misogynistic treatment to her as she was passed from one husband to another like a possession meant to be objectified and enslaved. Such a cruel tale yet it rings truth in the society. I hate how the husbands treated her and its one of the character development I'm rooting for the most. She talked about her children, her youngest daughter beared similarities to her the most while the three sons are more human like. Its about taking freedom from someone and reclaim it back.
Dragon's Palace is a bizzare, magnanimously eccentric collection of 8 short stories that both enlighten and confused me. Its fantastical elements and cultural disposition sprinkled throughout its stories are actually clever because they were imbued with social commentary disguised as fictional narrative. Kawakami's stories derived elements from Shinto and Buddhism, Japanese folklore and fairytales thus creating metaphorical & magical storytelling in her earlier works. I can see why people may be turned off by this book because of how confusing and seemingly nonsensical each of these stories can be. But once you delve deeper and concentrate on what message can you take away from each of them, you will realize how deceptively genius Kawakami is for crafting such bizzare, absurdist tale out of folklore &Japanese fairytales into stories that pervade modern society. To be fair, I will rate each of the stories by its own and i will be honest, i like most of them but only 2 felt a bit too overboard and make me uncomfortable with their wild nature. In a world infested with love, jealousu, infatuation, sex and otherworldly being, this collection trasncend time and generations. With a man claimed to be an octopus gallivanting the town scrounging money from a young guy, a goddess like deity intense copulation with her many followers, a mythical fox like man grappling with age & mortality, a woman dealing with the Kitchen God with three faces in an apartment block attacked by weasels, a man being cared by different sisters as he grew up, a mole couple that took depressive humans into their underground burrow & a woman who are passed from men to men as husbands while missing her life in the ocean.
1. Hokusai - 4 ✨️
Based on the famed Hokusai's painting, A fishermen, this story allude to a man whom confessed he was once an octopus but he lives on the land as human now. We followed a young man searching for a meaning in life sort of coming of age story for him when he encountered this man galivanting around, boozes and sex. No idea what the story is about but i fairly enjoy it for how absurd it is
2. Dragon's Palace - 3✨️
Heavily inspired by folklore, this story started with a small cult, a couple prostrating or deifying a goddes, old in age but youthful in appearance. The story was told in two POV, the 3rd POV reflected on the history of the cult as she gained massive following and the weird sexualized relationships she has with her members, then moving around the town finally bearing children. The first POV talk more on the great grandaughter as she met with the goddes. Im baffled by this story, it felts so ridiculous and too promiscous for my taste. So not a fan of this one.
3. Fox's Den - 4✨️
Surprisingly, this was quite an interesting one. Age being a factor in the story
4. Kitchen God - 4.5✨️
This reminded me slightly of Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai, the style of a housewife taking comfort in her apartment with mindless rambling of her day to day life. She can see an apparition of a Kitchen God whom she met since she ever live in the apartment, this may signify her wanting to stay in a past time protected by the warmth of her mother as she reminisce the good memories. There are scenes of her affairs, the sort of gossips she heard among the neighbours, her peaceful life with her husband.
5. Shimazaki - 4✨️
6. The Roar -3✨️
Borderline uncomfortable, tbh as it used the fairytale like esque to the story telling. With the narrative showed the man from his childhood, his older sister breastfeeding him when he was a baby, then passed to anothet sister as he grew up, developing feelings with another, eventually married the last sister he met. Unable to grasp the innuendo, its a little bit absurd to my taste
7. Mole -5✨️
I love this! It reminded me a lot of Convenience store woman in a sense the mole can be taken as Tanuki, a racoon being that can transform into human but in here, the Mole had adapted himself to human like behaviour as he goes to the work acting as a human and how the human co-workers doenst even glance or acknowledged him sort of like treating him distantly. And the fact their home become a place for people who cannot stand tghe world, wanting to run away feom life or auicidal was pretty intriguing
8. Sea Horse -5✨️
The last stories left a huge impact on me. For the first time after reading through all of the stories, arriving here, i have understand the nature of Kawakami's character and expected the true form of her character. Izumi was once a non-human being from the sea and turn into human, having being attracted to a male on the land. There is a theme of oppression and misogynistic treatment to her as she was passed from one husband to another like a possession meant to be objectified and enslaved. Such a cruel tale yet it rings truth in the society. I hate how the husbands treated her and its one of the character development I'm rooting for the most. She talked about her children, her youngest daughter beared similarities to her the most while the three sons are more human like. Its about taking freedom from someone and reclaim it back.
September 21, 2023
This author has the heart of story telling and a free spirit of adventure and make believe.
What on the face of it appear nonsensical stories are quite engaging and thoroughly believable. Using magical scenarios with often animals engaging in the human world. The tales have a degree a familiarity and loosely based on relationships we can identify with as the dialogue between the characters is realistic and absorbing.
I really enjoy the fact that each story is immersed into Japanese life and culture. You feel a sense of place even though the world glimpsed has a diversity of animal interactions or realms of fantasy.
8 short stories to lose yourself in and regret when they end.
What on the face of it appear nonsensical stories are quite engaging and thoroughly believable. Using magical scenarios with often animals engaging in the human world. The tales have a degree a familiarity and loosely based on relationships we can identify with as the dialogue between the characters is realistic and absorbing.
I really enjoy the fact that each story is immersed into Japanese life and culture. You feel a sense of place even though the world glimpsed has a diversity of animal interactions or realms of fantasy.
8 short stories to lose yourself in and regret when they end.
October 2, 2023
Dragon Palace is an anthology of short stories. The main theme of all of them is magical realism, along with the use of folklore and elements of Japanese mythology. Some of them I found too weird to be enjoyable, others were better though and they were easier to understand what Hiromi Kawakami wanted to convey.
January 1, 2025
TW: rape, sexualized violence, physical and psychological abuse, death, child death
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.
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.
June 22, 2023
”If you turn where the guardrail breaks off and walk down the stone steps from the highway, you'll come upon a rotting fishing boat lying on its side in the sand. On windy days, you can hear its net flapping.” — HOKUSAI; DRAGON PALACE
I will be rating and reviewing each short story separately, but as a whole I really enjoyed this collection. Each story was different enough that it never felt repetitive or boring, yet they were similar enough that the collection still made sense.
I had forgotten how much I loved Kawakami’s writing until now, and it felt like a welcome return to her world as I settled into this collection. Throughout the book her use of imagery painted so many gorgeous pictures in my mind, and I could really appreciate the hard work that the translator put in as well. The original writing is of course in Japanese, but I think that this was a fairly well-done translation. It never felt stilted or awkward, and managed to keep the sentimentality of the original language it was written in.
HOKUSAI
This was a definite four out of five stars. Perhaps I’m a little biased because this was the first story and I still felt really excited over being able to read an ARC of Kawakami’s, but this had the most hype and made me feel the most. Especially when it came to the imagery, I could really appreciate the artistry of this story.
There was a lot of symbolism and allegory here but I don’t think I fully understood it. If I had understood the reasoning behind the writing, I definitely would have given this short story a rare five out of five stars. Otherwise, I can appreciate what Kawakami did here even if I don’t fully understand it.
DRAGON PALACE
This was a solid three stars. I feel really conflicted about this short story, namesake of the entire collection. I may have had slightly higher expectations for this story because of that, but it fell short honestly. It made me feel really uncomfortable when Ito’s physical descriptions were discussed. Even if this was not the intention, it came off as pedophilic. The way that her attractive traits were constantly paired with her youthful personality and literal young age (fourteen!) made me uncomfortable.
I did, however, understand more of the symbolism here. The “message” of this story resonated more with me than the previous one did.
Because of my mixed feelings, I of course am keeping it at a steady three stars. It would feel wrong to bump it to two or four stars.
FOX’S DEN
Just like Dragon Palace, I had mixed feelings about this one as soon as I finished it. On one hand, I didn’t really like all the shit references and I was just so confused as to what the hell was happening. After skimming the story back over again though, I understood more of the hidden messages in the writing and stopped taking everything so literally.
The rawness of the characters’ actions and how they spoke to each other was really different and even though the circumstances were a bit odd, I found myself liking both main characters.
I think that after re-reading it, I would bump this up to four stars rather than three. Though I initially thought three, there was enough of a difference between the first and second read that made me like it a lot more.
THE KITCHEN GOD
To me, this character had the strongest narration and she stood out to me the most. This is a definite five out of five stars and perhaps my favorite story from this whole collection. There was something about it that set it aside from the other stories, and I could tell that I was going to like this one as soon as I read the first sentence.
This felt very much like a tragic coming of age story, about a young woman blooming into adulthood and learning how to act like an adult and function without the comfort of her childhood home and her parents. The Kitchen God symbolizes that pain of growing up, and its location in the kitchen has all the more meaning when you think about how Izumi must have felt the most love from her mother when they were in the kitchen cooking together.
MOLE
The title of this story being “Mole” when it refers to a grave digger (I think) was incredibly morbid but genius at the same time. The magical realism is also really interesting; it’s really fleshed out in this story compared to the past four. Though it had been mentioned in a few of the past stories, it was never fully discussed until this story.
The narration of the mole’s day to day life was also a clever set-up, trying to disguise the work he’s doing as mundane and unimportant. I can’t help but feel like the prejudice and exclusion that the mole gets from his fully human coworkers is representative of prejudice in the workplace in real life, whether that’s due to racism, homophobia, or any other sort of discrimination. It’s even more interesting when you realize that the humans are the ones invading the mole people’s space; they have to stay underground for an unidentified reason.
I would sit this at a 4.5, because it isn’t completely perfect but it deserves more than a simple four, which I dole out quite liberally.
THE ROAR
This is one star. I have no idea what’s happening here but seeing as to how the story started with a boy breastfeeding from his sister and sexualizing it, I really just couldn’t like it at all. I don’t even care if there’s hidden symbolism here, it’s just way too uncomfortable no matter what the reasoning behind it is.
From the beginning to the end, I disliked this one.
SHIMAZAKI
This is probably three stars as well, because I was quite confused about what was happening most of the time in this story as well. I’m not sure of the case between the woman and her “ancestor” (is he really her ancestor and this is more incest or is that just a weird nickname?). Anyways, three stars and that’s that. Not my favorite by far.
SEA HORSE
This is definitely one of my favorites from the collection, alongside The Kitchen God. It’s hard to put my adoration for this short story into words for some reason, but I really loved this entire story. The descriptions of the ocean and her longing for it, her pain from her husbands and her children. It was all so incredibly beautiful.
Thank you to Netgalley, Stone Bridge Press, and Hiromi Kawakami and Ted Goossen for the ARC!
I will be rating and reviewing each short story separately, but as a whole I really enjoyed this collection. Each story was different enough that it never felt repetitive or boring, yet they were similar enough that the collection still made sense.
I had forgotten how much I loved Kawakami’s writing until now, and it felt like a welcome return to her world as I settled into this collection. Throughout the book her use of imagery painted so many gorgeous pictures in my mind, and I could really appreciate the hard work that the translator put in as well. The original writing is of course in Japanese, but I think that this was a fairly well-done translation. It never felt stilted or awkward, and managed to keep the sentimentality of the original language it was written in.
HOKUSAI
This was a definite four out of five stars. Perhaps I’m a little biased because this was the first story and I still felt really excited over being able to read an ARC of Kawakami’s, but this had the most hype and made me feel the most. Especially when it came to the imagery, I could really appreciate the artistry of this story.
There was a lot of symbolism and allegory here but I don’t think I fully understood it. If I had understood the reasoning behind the writing, I definitely would have given this short story a rare five out of five stars. Otherwise, I can appreciate what Kawakami did here even if I don’t fully understand it.
DRAGON PALACE
This was a solid three stars. I feel really conflicted about this short story, namesake of the entire collection. I may have had slightly higher expectations for this story because of that, but it fell short honestly. It made me feel really uncomfortable when Ito’s physical descriptions were discussed. Even if this was not the intention, it came off as pedophilic. The way that her attractive traits were constantly paired with her youthful personality and literal young age (fourteen!) made me uncomfortable.
I did, however, understand more of the symbolism here. The “message” of this story resonated more with me than the previous one did.
Because of my mixed feelings, I of course am keeping it at a steady three stars. It would feel wrong to bump it to two or four stars.
FOX’S DEN
Just like Dragon Palace, I had mixed feelings about this one as soon as I finished it. On one hand, I didn’t really like all the shit references and I was just so confused as to what the hell was happening. After skimming the story back over again though, I understood more of the hidden messages in the writing and stopped taking everything so literally.
The rawness of the characters’ actions and how they spoke to each other was really different and even though the circumstances were a bit odd, I found myself liking both main characters.
I think that after re-reading it, I would bump this up to four stars rather than three. Though I initially thought three, there was enough of a difference between the first and second read that made me like it a lot more.
THE KITCHEN GOD
To me, this character had the strongest narration and she stood out to me the most. This is a definite five out of five stars and perhaps my favorite story from this whole collection. There was something about it that set it aside from the other stories, and I could tell that I was going to like this one as soon as I read the first sentence.
This felt very much like a tragic coming of age story, about a young woman blooming into adulthood and learning how to act like an adult and function without the comfort of her childhood home and her parents. The Kitchen God symbolizes that pain of growing up, and its location in the kitchen has all the more meaning when you think about how Izumi must have felt the most love from her mother when they were in the kitchen cooking together.
MOLE
The title of this story being “Mole” when it refers to a grave digger (I think) was incredibly morbid but genius at the same time. The magical realism is also really interesting; it’s really fleshed out in this story compared to the past four. Though it had been mentioned in a few of the past stories, it was never fully discussed until this story.
The narration of the mole’s day to day life was also a clever set-up, trying to disguise the work he’s doing as mundane and unimportant. I can’t help but feel like the prejudice and exclusion that the mole gets from his fully human coworkers is representative of prejudice in the workplace in real life, whether that’s due to racism, homophobia, or any other sort of discrimination. It’s even more interesting when you realize that the humans are the ones invading the mole people’s space; they have to stay underground for an unidentified reason.
I would sit this at a 4.5, because it isn’t completely perfect but it deserves more than a simple four, which I dole out quite liberally.
THE ROAR
This is one star. I have no idea what’s happening here but seeing as to how the story started with a boy breastfeeding from his sister and sexualizing it, I really just couldn’t like it at all. I don’t even care if there’s hidden symbolism here, it’s just way too uncomfortable no matter what the reasoning behind it is.
From the beginning to the end, I disliked this one.
SHIMAZAKI
This is probably three stars as well, because I was quite confused about what was happening most of the time in this story as well. I’m not sure of the case between the woman and her “ancestor” (is he really her ancestor and this is more incest or is that just a weird nickname?). Anyways, three stars and that’s that. Not my favorite by far.
SEA HORSE
This is definitely one of my favorites from the collection, alongside The Kitchen God. It’s hard to put my adoration for this short story into words for some reason, but I really loved this entire story. The descriptions of the ocean and her longing for it, her pain from her husbands and her children. It was all so incredibly beautiful.
Thank you to Netgalley, Stone Bridge Press, and Hiromi Kawakami and Ted Goossen for the ARC!
January 16, 2024
Most of these absurd, quirky first-person narratives have clever eye-catching openings. "Fox's Den" for example:
However, they're mostly one quirky situation after another, with little development. And the stories are all just under 20 pages, with essentially the same tone, and pretty lightweight. Some variety would have been nice. (I really thought I would like this more, from the description.)
Shota Ikemori loves abura-age, the deep fried tofu used to make inari-zushi, named after the fox deity Inari, since foxes are said to favor this type of sushi. Shota yowls from time to time, his face is sharp and pointy, and sometimes a white mist billows from his mouth into the air.
However, they're mostly one quirky situation after another, with little development. And the stories are all just under 20 pages, with essentially the same tone, and pretty lightweight. Some variety would have been nice. (I really thought I would like this more, from the description.)
January 4, 2024
A perfectly strange book. It was so odd that it had me taking a break between each story to just think.
I loved Hokusai, Dragon Palace and Sea Horse the most.
The Roar and Shimszaki through a curveball with the incest though. They would have been great stories without that fact. I couldn’t enjoy them because… well, yeah. (Skipped a bit through then because I was so uncomfortable.)
Sea Horse did make me tear up. “That which comes from the ocean must return to the ocean,” he answers. “Keeping you here has been exhausting for all of us.”
I can’t explain how much it makes my chest tighten.
Overall a good read, and I’m happy to start my 2024 with such an interesting set of short stories.
I loved Hokusai, Dragon Palace and Sea Horse the most.
The Roar and Shimszaki through a curveball with the incest though. They would have been great stories without that fact. I couldn’t enjoy them because… well, yeah. (Skipped a bit through then because I was so uncomfortable.)
Sea Horse did make me tear up. “That which comes from the ocean must return to the ocean,” he answers. “Keeping you here has been exhausting for all of us.”
I can’t explain how much it makes my chest tighten.
Overall a good read, and I’m happy to start my 2024 with such an interesting set of short stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2023
This is a collection of 8 short stories - They definitely all lean heavily towards magical realism, quite bizarre and the reading experience feels like a fever dream. I have read Hiromi Kawakami before and enjoyed Strange Weather in Tokyo, which I would recommend over this.
However I do believe Kawakami has very imaginative and creative ideas , her books always feel unique even if I didn't know what was going on most of the time.
Thank You to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the e-arc.
However I do believe Kawakami has very imaginative and creative ideas , her books always feel unique even if I didn't know what was going on most of the time.
Thank You to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the e-arc.
August 30, 2023
Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami (ARC review)
As someone who loves Japanese literature, I was really intrigued by the title and the cover of this book.
I have also heard some great things about Strange Weather in Tokyo by the same author.
However, in all honesty, this book just wasn’t for me. The best way to describe it would be as a ‘fever dream’, in its weirdest form.
These 8 short stories were bizarre, weird, and made no sense to me, or maybe I wasn’t the right person to appreciate them. The stories had high fantasy and magical realism elements, and the characters were simply creepy.
However, I do appreciate the author and will be reading more of her work in the future. I am also grateful to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book releases in September 2023!
--
As someone who loves Japanese literature, I was really intrigued by the title and the cover of this book.
I have also heard some great things about Strange Weather in Tokyo by the same author.
However, in all honesty, this book just wasn’t for me. The best way to describe it would be as a ‘fever dream’, in its weirdest form.
These 8 short stories were bizarre, weird, and made no sense to me, or maybe I wasn’t the right person to appreciate them. The stories had high fantasy and magical realism elements, and the characters were simply creepy.
However, I do appreciate the author and will be reading more of her work in the future. I am also grateful to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Book releases in September 2023!
--
Read
September 6, 2023Another fine collection from Hiromi Kawakami, who continues to bewilder and astound and discomfit with her fiction. Here we have eight stories that feature everything from an octopus con man, kitchen gods, a meditation on turds (don’t ask me to repeat it, you read it right the first time) and a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. All the characters in these stories strive for something - mostly to love and be loved and to find a modicum of happiness. Kawakami’s prose is plain, matter-of-fact even. This is no insult. The simplicity only makes her fiction all the weirder and funnier and shocking. There’s nowhere to hide when you read a Kawakami story, and that’s what I love about her work.
January 4, 2024
what the hell did i just read x8 bc there were 8 short stories and none of them made any sense and all of them felt like a weird ass dream where anything and everything can happen. the only ones i kinda liked were the sea horse and the mole one.
February 11, 2024
I have no idea what I read
September 23, 2023
This book was definitely a WILD ride. From breastfeeding gods to miniature humans living in mole holes, this is a collection that can bewilder others more than not; but its one of the books that felt to me, after looking through the surface of the story, the insights and what Kawakami intended to write with each story was just sad.
Edited on 19th September 2023
Picking up Dragon Palace was.... something else entirely. It left me gobsmacked, shell-shocked and some stories even made me disassociate with myself for a bit. Its a collection of short stories that is written in Kawakami's usual style that made something that was totally out of this world felt normal. Its an exploration of folklores, mythologies - with the central with aging and what it is to be human.
This collection of 8 short stories might not appeal to everyone, but for me, I felt that, each story has its own deeper meaning in ways that might not sit right by us. Kawakami takes elements from Shinto and Buddhism in these stories and intertwines them with folklores in the Japanese culture that makes everything that is bizarre a symbol of what the story actually holds. Yes, there are stories of Kitchen Gods, and mole people, and seahorse turned human; and even with the outlandish tales that Kawakami wrote, the central theme of aging, questions of patriarchy, sex and mostly of being human that makes the essence of each story more alive than some.
These are some of my thoughts for each individual stories :-
Story 1: Hokusai
Personal Ratings : 4🌟
A man who claimed to be an octopus and based on the philosophies from the infamous painting of Hokusai. The story is both witty and absurd, and the gallivanting ways of the old man was definitely amusing, but I also liked how its a story of resilience. The nature of humans is that we tend to give up easily when things go hard, and the adaptability of the octopus is somewhat as a reminder that abling to adapt will lead you to live a somewhat normal life.
Story 2: Dragon Palace
Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟
This story had gotten me saying WTF in so many languages, but I think, I just felt sad overall. Its heavily inspired by the folklore and how the consequences from cults had led to an innocent woman being held as a hostage, a sex slave and then somewhat becoming the goddess as her own. Definitely not for everyone but I was left mortified but also a bit sad overall.
Story 3: Fox's Den
Personal Ratings : 3.75🌟
The more I read the stories; laced with the weirdness and quirkiness, is the backstories of the Gods and folklore. This one was witty.
Story 4: Kitchen's God
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟
One of my favs from this collection. It reminded me a lot of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and the stories of a person who is somewhat stuck in the past and of memories that are uncertain.
Story 5: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟
Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.
Story 6: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟
Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.
Story 7: Sea Horse
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟
of motherhood, womenhood and something more that exceeds than a normal person's expectations. I loved it and was lowkey sad for the story.
Overall, the short stories in here are wilder than most, and it is definitely not for everyone, but I for one enjoyed this one a lot. It centres around old age and how humans are at the end just very vulnerable beings but also strong and resilient in their own ways. Recommended for those who needed something different in your TBR. Its definitely a memorable one.
Biggest thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!
Edited on 19th September 2023
Picking up Dragon Palace was.... something else entirely. It left me gobsmacked, shell-shocked and some stories even made me disassociate with myself for a bit. Its a collection of short stories that is written in Kawakami's usual style that made something that was totally out of this world felt normal. Its an exploration of folklores, mythologies - with the central with aging and what it is to be human.
"Unable to live, unable to die, they're just there, eating away at their surroundings. Eating away at themselves. That is who they are.
This collection of 8 short stories might not appeal to everyone, but for me, I felt that, each story has its own deeper meaning in ways that might not sit right by us. Kawakami takes elements from Shinto and Buddhism in these stories and intertwines them with folklores in the Japanese culture that makes everything that is bizarre a symbol of what the story actually holds. Yes, there are stories of Kitchen Gods, and mole people, and seahorse turned human; and even with the outlandish tales that Kawakami wrote, the central theme of aging, questions of patriarchy, sex and mostly of being human that makes the essence of each story more alive than some.
These are some of my thoughts for each individual stories :-
Story 1: Hokusai
Personal Ratings : 4🌟
"Being' human is painful. I wish I could go back to bein' an octopus. But I can't. When water is spilled, it's gone - you can't put it back in the pot."
A man who claimed to be an octopus and based on the philosophies from the infamous painting of Hokusai. The story is both witty and absurd, and the gallivanting ways of the old man was definitely amusing, but I also liked how its a story of resilience. The nature of humans is that we tend to give up easily when things go hard, and the adaptability of the octopus is somewhat as a reminder that abling to adapt will lead you to live a somewhat normal life.
Story 2: Dragon Palace
Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟
"I lived knowing nothing and died knowing nothing."
This story had gotten me saying WTF in so many languages, but I think, I just felt sad overall. Its heavily inspired by the folklore and how the consequences from cults had led to an innocent woman being held as a hostage, a sex slave and then somewhat becoming the goddess as her own. Definitely not for everyone but I was left mortified but also a bit sad overall.
Story 3: Fox's Den
Personal Ratings : 3.75🌟
The more I read the stories; laced with the weirdness and quirkiness, is the backstories of the Gods and folklore. This one was witty.
Story 4: Kitchen's God
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟
One of my favs from this collection. It reminded me a lot of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and the stories of a person who is somewhat stuck in the past and of memories that are uncertain.
"Was I happy? I had never given that question a thought."
Story 5: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟
Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.
Story 6: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟
Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.
Story 7: Sea Horse
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟
of motherhood, womenhood and something more that exceeds than a normal person's expectations. I loved it and was lowkey sad for the story.
Overall, the short stories in here are wilder than most, and it is definitely not for everyone, but I for one enjoyed this one a lot. It centres around old age and how humans are at the end just very vulnerable beings but also strong and resilient in their own ways. Recommended for those who needed something different in your TBR. Its definitely a memorable one.
Biggest thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!
September 29, 2023
From on of Japan’s contemporary masters of fiction, this collection of strange, beautiful, and sensuous stories of transformations leaves one feeling strangely melancholic. Here the boundary between human and animal is blurred there by compelling us to question what actually if anything distinguishes us from the nonhuman beings who surround us. Five stars.
January 1, 2025
“Kini jumlah manusia yang berniat menyerangku semakin jarang. Kelihatannya mereka sendiri bingung apa yang sebenarnya mereka benci, apa yang sebenarnya mereka sukai. Di lubuk hati terdalam mereka masih membenciku, tetapi mereka juga tidak keberatan menerimaku bekerja. Mereka terus meyakinkan diri sendiri bahwa keberadaanku di kantor ini sangat penting. Akan tetapi, keberadaan kami sebenarnya tidak berarti. Di mata sebagian besar manusia, spesies yang tinggal jauh di bawah tanah seperti kami tak lebih dari hama pengganggu.” (hlm. 88 - “Tikus Mondok”)
Ini buku pertama pengarang yang saya selesaikan. Terpantik ingin membaca setelah menyimak tulisan profil pengarang di Kompas.id saat ia berkunjung ke Jakarta beberapa waktu lalu.
Isinya delapan cerita pendek yang nggak pendek-pendek amat. Rata-rata halaman setiap cerpen yaitu 18-20, sebenarnya cukup panjang untuk disebut cerpen. Kemudian, bisa dibilang semua ceritanya absurd dan berada dalam batas realis-unrealis yang semu. Bagaimana mungkin gurita bercinta dengan perempuan, lalu ada seseorang yang berubah menjadi rubah, lalu ada juga wanita usia 200 tahun yang menyukai leluhurnya yang sudah 400 tahun. Dua hal tersebut sedikit membuat saya agak lama melahap buku ini.
Jika ditabrakkan dengan kelogisan, semuanya agak sulit untuk diterima nalar. Namun, itulah kelebihan cerita-cerita pengarang di sini. Sebagai penggemar hal-hal magis dan penuh fantasi, saya suka buku ini. Walaupun tidak bisa dibandingkan dengan novel bergenre fantasi pada umumnya, saya amat suka bila diajak bereksperimen membayangkan deskripsi aneh dan bikin mengernyit dahi tokoh-tokoh pada buku ini.
Dua cerita yang paling saya suka yaitu “Tikus Mondok” tentang kehidupan manusia yang sulit dipahami dari sudut pandang hewan yang hidup di bawah tanah dan “Shimazaki” tentang kehidupan romansa dua sejoli berusia di atas 200 tahun itu.
Terjemahannya apik sekali. Salah satu yang bikin saya kesengsem yaitu seringnya pengarang menyebut-nyebut makanan yang kemudian dibuatkan penjelasan ringkasnya oleh penerjemah sehingga saya bisa membayangkan dan menerka-nerka seperti apa makanan tersebut.
Pada bagian akhir buku, terdapat pula ulasan atas buku kumpulan cerpen ini yang dituliskan oleh seorang kritikus sastra asal Jepang, Jiro Kawamura. Ia menjelaskan hal-hal yang sekiranya tidak banyak orang ketahui tentang hubungan antara cerpen pengarang dan sejarah Jepang. Salah satunya hubungan antara lukisan gurita-manusia yang dibuat Katsushika Hokusai dan cerpen “Hokusai”. Kritikus Jiro juga menjelaskan hubungan antara cerpen “Dewa Dapur” dan sosok Dewa Dapur yang dipuja beberapa penganut aliran kepercayaan di Jepang.
“... Sebenarnya apa makna waktu? Aku bertanya padaleluhurku. Zaman aku baru lahir, yang namanya waktu jauh lebih teratur, jawabnya. Dan kau mencintai lelaki itu? ia beralih ke topik awal. Tumben kau menggunakan kata ‘mencintai’, aku mengoloknya. Ia menundukkan kepala. Padahal nyaris saja ia menunjukkan kecemburuan, tetapi aku malah mengolok-olok.” (hlm. 131 - “Shimazaki”)
dnf
March 6, 2024dnf p. 91
Usually I can at least kind of understand why people enjoy books I don't, but with this one I'm absolutely stumped over what people are getting out of it.
The first three stories were:
- Octopus man brings other man to rate women from a back alley to then choose one and chase her down the street
- Great grandmother starts suckling from her great granddaughter after confessing to murder
- Elderly man with a poop kink asks his caretaker to strip so he can fondle her
And then!! Just when I thought I was safe with "lady likes to eat drywall while a tiny man lives under her fridge" they hit you with a "and she is kind of an unwitting prostitute and then gets raped" conclusion.
Are y'all okay??? The fourth story in particular was so disjointed and nonsensical that I couldn't even begin to try to pull a message from it.
Like Peter the raccoon this book deserves to be abandoned in a gutter and I'm not gonna apologise for that!!!
Usually I can at least kind of understand why people enjoy books I don't, but with this one I'm absolutely stumped over what people are getting out of it.
The first three stories were:
- Octopus man brings other man to rate women from a back alley to then choose one and chase her down the street
- Great grandmother starts suckling from her great granddaughter after confessing to murder
- Elderly man with a poop kink asks his caretaker to strip so he can fondle her
And then!! Just when I thought I was safe with "lady likes to eat drywall while a tiny man lives under her fridge" they hit you with a "and she is kind of an unwitting prostitute and then gets raped" conclusion.
Are y'all okay??? The fourth story in particular was so disjointed and nonsensical that I couldn't even begin to try to pull a message from it.
Like Peter the raccoon this book deserves to be abandoned in a gutter and I'm not gonna apologise for that!!!
March 23, 2025
3.5 rounding down to 3. Two of the eight stories were marvelous, exactly on par with what I know and have come to expect from Kawakami, but the rest were just fine. I wouldn't rush out to buy this book unless you're a Kawakami diehard like I am.
Probably the biggest difference for me with Dragon Palace when confronted with her other books is that I'm probably just not as big a fan of the translator's style as others who I think embody the author's essence better than he does. Goosen did a good job with People from My Neighborhood (he did Dragon Palace too), but other than being two short story collections of slightly surreal magical realism, tonally they're very different and I just don't think the style here is reflected on the page as well.
Probably the biggest difference for me with Dragon Palace when confronted with her other books is that I'm probably just not as big a fan of the translator's style as others who I think embody the author's essence better than he does. Goosen did a good job with People from My Neighborhood (he did Dragon Palace too), but other than being two short story collections of slightly surreal magical realism, tonally they're very different and I just don't think the style here is reflected on the page as well.
June 16, 2025
A collection of surreal fables with themes of sexual abuse and/or perversions. A few moments where it feels almost anthropological by observing human society from an animal’s POV.
July 23, 2023
3.5 rounded to 4
Embark on a mesmerising journey through the realms of the extraordinary in "Dragon Palace," a captivating collection of eight short stories by Hiromi Kawakami. With an exquisite blend of transformation, humor, sensuality, and an unyielding quest for love and beauty, this collection of short stories will transport readers to worlds where the boundaries of time, space, and even species are fluid and transcendent.
I’m a big fan of Kawakami, devouring the pages of everything she writes but as this was a short story collection, not every story was to my taste.
However, in each story, Kawakami unveils a unique masterpiece of imagination, inviting readers to explore the hidden dimensions of existence. One of the most enchanting aspects of this collection is the author's ability to effortlessly blend the mystical with the mundane, imbuing ordinary lives with extraordinary experiences.
The characters that populate these tales are as diverse as the worlds they inhabit. My favourite story being about a shape-shifting con man who dances with deception, making readers question the nature of reality.
Beyond the fantastical, the author delves into the sacred and the profane, as we encounter a kitchen god residing in a woman’s apartment. The juxtaposition of divine beings amidst everyday struggles creates a delightful and intriguing dynamic.
The prose flows like a silken thread, gently weaving together disparate elements of fantasy and reality, dream and wakefulness. Kawakami’s masterful storytelling transports readers effortlessly into these enigmatic worlds, capturing their hearts and imaginations from the first page to the last.
“Dragon Palace" is a literary gem that shines with its unique blend of mysticism, wit, and emotional depth. With each story, the author delivers a profound exploration of the human condition in all its strangeness and splendor. It is a collection that will leave readers both enchanted and enlightened, offering glimpses into the profound truths that underlie the fantastical and the miraculous. This book is a testament to the power of storytelling and a must-read for anyone seeking to venture beyond the boundaries of the known and into the vast realms of the otherworldly. Even if every story isn’t a 5 star read, each comes with its own set of merit and intrigue, all worthy of reading.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Stone Bridge Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Embark on a mesmerising journey through the realms of the extraordinary in "Dragon Palace," a captivating collection of eight short stories by Hiromi Kawakami. With an exquisite blend of transformation, humor, sensuality, and an unyielding quest for love and beauty, this collection of short stories will transport readers to worlds where the boundaries of time, space, and even species are fluid and transcendent.
I’m a big fan of Kawakami, devouring the pages of everything she writes but as this was a short story collection, not every story was to my taste.
However, in each story, Kawakami unveils a unique masterpiece of imagination, inviting readers to explore the hidden dimensions of existence. One of the most enchanting aspects of this collection is the author's ability to effortlessly blend the mystical with the mundane, imbuing ordinary lives with extraordinary experiences.
The characters that populate these tales are as diverse as the worlds they inhabit. My favourite story being about a shape-shifting con man who dances with deception, making readers question the nature of reality.
Beyond the fantastical, the author delves into the sacred and the profane, as we encounter a kitchen god residing in a woman’s apartment. The juxtaposition of divine beings amidst everyday struggles creates a delightful and intriguing dynamic.
The prose flows like a silken thread, gently weaving together disparate elements of fantasy and reality, dream and wakefulness. Kawakami’s masterful storytelling transports readers effortlessly into these enigmatic worlds, capturing their hearts and imaginations from the first page to the last.
“Dragon Palace" is a literary gem that shines with its unique blend of mysticism, wit, and emotional depth. With each story, the author delivers a profound exploration of the human condition in all its strangeness and splendor. It is a collection that will leave readers both enchanted and enlightened, offering glimpses into the profound truths that underlie the fantastical and the miraculous. This book is a testament to the power of storytelling and a must-read for anyone seeking to venture beyond the boundaries of the known and into the vast realms of the otherworldly. Even if every story isn’t a 5 star read, each comes with its own set of merit and intrigue, all worthy of reading.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Stone Bridge Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 24, 2024
3.5 pretty good and weird short stories
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