Ashes of Spring

by Mieko Kawakami, Hitomi Yoshio (Translator), Suratsawade Siu (Narrator)

Listening Length: 4 hours and 42 minutes

Award-winning Japanese author and poet Mieko Kawakami brings Ashes of Spring, a collection of short stories set in everyday life in Japan just before the pandemic lockdown. Kawakami’s stories straddle the line between delicate and beautiful human connection and the brutality of human nature. This poignant collection vividly captures the world we created shortly before it was put on pause, the characters at the center, painfully real. As we emerge five years later, Kawakami offers a stark reminder of our own fragility.

Genres: Audiobook, Short Stories, Japan, Fiction, Contemporary, Japanese Literature

Audible Audio

First published February 28, 2022

About the author

Mieko Kawakami (川上未映子, born in August 29, 1976) is a Japanese singer and writer from Osaka.

She was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize for promising new writers of serious fiction (2007) for her novel Chichi to Ran (乳と卵) (Breasts and Eggs).

Kawakami has released three albums and three singles as a singer.

Reviews

[Nourhan Khaled · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Because we’re always in pain, we know exactly what it means to hurt somebody else.”
.
.
This book is a collection of short stories that explore quiet lives and silent anxieties.
Mieko Kawakami’s writing style feels like a conversation with yourself. With her gentle style, she draws delicate images of human relationships sneaking in the background.
The stories are set in an uncertain time just before COVID, when people were still lost in their routines, unaware that the world was about to change. Yet, the stories aren’t about COVID; they dive into something deeper: loneliness, longing, motherhood, memory, friendship, family, and the deep desire to be understood.
Not every story is equally strong, but some are especially warm and unforgettable.
The overall tone is serene, blue, and softly touches on the buried emotions we often try to ignore.
It wasn’t a bad experience, and definitely won’t be my last book by Kawakami’s.
.
.
“What is dying anyway? … living is really just waiting to die.”

[Sanja_Sanjalica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Kawakami's writing. All the stories have an eerie feel to it, and it's not just because of the beginning of a pandemic. It's just a background and most of the stories could have happened in any time. Very intriguing and showing the gray sides of humanity.

[Jim Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories available on Audible (I can’t see a print edition online) from Japanese writer Mieko Kawakami and all apparently written around the time of the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, as what was then a strange new virus is mentioned in every story.

I snapped up ‘The Ashes of Spring’, having recently devoured two of Kawakami’s most popular novels translated into English (‘All the Lovers in the Night’ and ‘Breasts and Eggs’) . But this uneven collection is not a patch on the novels, with some of the stories having the feel of being written in a rush.

The two exceptions were the longest story - and the last one in the collection - ‘Mothers and Daughters’. This was more like the Kawakami I was familiar with. It’s a tale of a close friendship between two young women that goes sour due partly to the malign influence of one of the women’s mothers - a loathsome wealthy woman who sends her beautiful daughter Anna to Tokyo to be an actress (the occupation she herself had once aspired to). The other young woman, Yoshi, a struggling aspiring writer who is also the narrator, comes to resent the beautiful, spoilt but unambitious Anna to the extent that she conspires with the mother to undermine her friend and destroy what’s left of her stalled career as an actress.

The other story I enjoyed also explored the sometimes brutal competition between women. This was a topical story about the intense pressures on young girls in Japan (and elsewhere) through social media influencers to be physically perfect - pressures that lead some of them to totally reshape and sometimes disfigure their faces and bodies with plastic surgery. The title ‘Maybe if You Had a Better Nose’ tells you what to expect from that one.

These riffs on female rivalry, class, and body politics against the background of neoliberal dog-eat-dog capitalism are familiar territory for Kawakami, but I feel her novels - where she has the chance to stretch out - are more effective vehicles for telling stories around those themes

[Emily Cranford · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Hannah Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone in this sucks.
So to that end I’m sure the author has been successful - but. No thank you.

[Arushi Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. A quiet mirror held up to the world right before it stopped moving.

This collection captures everyday life in Japan just before the pandemic, moments that now feel heavier in hindsight. Kawakami’s stories linger between tenderness and unease, showing how fragile and unpredictable human connection really is. Her writing, as always, is delicate and perceptive, but here it feels more observational than immersive.

I liked the subtlety, the way ordinary scenes suddenly turn sharp, how people expose both kindness and cruelty in small gestures. But I didn’t feel as emotionally gripped as I did with her other works; it’s quieter, more detached, like watching life through a window. Maybe that’s the point, the distance between who we were and who we became.

A bittersweet, reflective listen, full of moments that ache softly but don’t quite stay long enough.

[Nandini Reddy Dayal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short stories all taking place at the start of the pandemic which have nothing to do with the pandemic. Just regular people and their aspirations, fears, secrets, wishes and dreams.

The hardest part of picking up a Meiko Kawakami book is knowing that she would have found a way to make you connect and deep dive into your own experiences. Her stories are uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. But the brilliance of her writing makes it hard to ignore.

It has been a while since I read "Heaven" and the pain she shows in that book still haunts me. I have had "Breast and Eggs" on my TBR bookshelf for a while but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I know it will hurt and make you introspect that no other book.

[CJ Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first short story collection experience with Kawakami and while these are sorta a mixed bag I feel like the good outweighs the meh by far. The last story about a super unhealthy friendship between the MC (an aspiring author) and her roommate (an aspiring actress) is really well done and toys with the readers emotions and expectations in interesting ways. The first story 青かける青 is kind of stream of consciousness style writing similar to Kawakami’s earlier novels that I thought was also written really well.

[Camila Rebolledo · Rating 5 out of 5]

no tenía idea que esto era un exclusivo de audible, de algo que valga la pena la plata que les doy. son varios cuentos, cada uno muy distinto, me gustaron harto. encontré muy original la idea de hacer cuentos relativos a la pandemia, especialmente a ese periodo inicial donde nadie sabía bien que estaba pasando, aunque en la mayoría de los casos es un telón de fondo y no un punto principal de la trama. cada uno muy original, creo que mi favorito es de la señora que está medio ida en la demencia. muy bueno el trabajo de narración, hace aún más inmersivas las historias.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favourite of Kawakani's. My favourite had to be the end story, I feel like that could have been a beautiful novella or full length novel. The others didn't really hit the spot for me. Also a different translator might have contributed to why the writing style felt a little different. As I say, loved Neko-San's story. Could have done with more from that one. The others were a bit meh. At one point (Maybe the Nose) I felt like I was reading Muratal not bad...but not good.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It felt like stream of consciousness stories looking into the diaries of regular people. Their dark thoughts, their irredeemable qualities, and horrible things they did through their lives and them never addressing them. Never seeing them get their just desserts and a pandemic in the background. Some stories were better than others 3.5.

[kaysea · Rating 3 out of 5]

love you mieko kawakami butttt i don’t think audiobooks are for me!! im also not a huge fan of collections of short stories 😬
ive never actually listened to one before and don’t think i will again tbf, i found it soooo hard to concentrate on what was being said

i did like ‘maybe if you had a better nose’ and ‘mothers and daughters’ but i would’ve preferred to read them lmao

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

『青かける青』、『花瓶』が個人的にすき。言葉ひとつひとつが優しい。生死について日常の風景から語るスタイルが私はいいなとおもう。恋をした時期は一瞬にも関わらず、将来自分の死が迫っているときにもその恋の後味みたいなのを感じるのかなと考えた。その味が苦いのか、甘いのかは人それぞれか。でも、そう思うと、どちらにせよ自分の人生への影響は強い。そのような影響を与えてくれた彼らに、私は感謝したい。彼がどうか元気で今日という日も幸せに過ごしていますように。

[Tina Raine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for me
Enjoyed the stories and I haven’t listened to much set during pandemic time, so it made me reflect on that time.
I thought the feelings of frustration or loss of the complete sense of reality were well-portrayed.

[Inga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure about that pandemic leitmotif running through all the stories, but Blue Ink and Mothers and Daughters were fantastic. Especially the latter — a beautifully toxic trio of women determined to make sure no one else makes it in the world unless she does first.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Ooh. Depressing!!

[Jai Oni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Enjoyment: ❤️❤️❤️

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

ops everywhere, for all with eyes to see

[Benedict · Rating 2 out of 5]

An audiobook of short stories of young women's lives at the time of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Weirdly, that's the connecting factor for the stories but the pandemic is very much a background tidbit barely mentioned. That they're set in the same time frame is barely relevant.

The stories are fine, but none of the main characters are particularly likeable. Of course characters dont have to be likeable but it was story after story of people I didnt really care about, and left me wondering why I was listening at all.

Only 4 hours or so, not a huge time investment either way but definitely nothing special.

[Aster · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories revolving around ordinary lives during the pandemic, the virus mostly staying as something in the background. Only the first and last stories stood out to me, the first one relatable as someone with a chronic condition. The last one captivated me with the changes of the protagonist's behavior.

Possible triggers for pronatalism include one mention of a side character saying she gained something more fulfilling than a career by marrying and giving birth instead.