孤獨夜裡的熱可可

by Seiko Tanabe, 田邊聖子, 劉子倩 (Translator)

★一九七八年出版至今，魅力不減，感動超過八十萬名讀者
★超越世代的昭和OL戀愛短篇集
★日本一線作家林真理子、小池真理子、山田詠美、江國香織、川上弘美、小川洋子、島本理生、綿矢莉紗一致推崇

可愛又廢的男人啊，我想和你一起虛度時光
暢銷八十萬冊，超越世代的昭和OL戀愛小說

將愛情的溫馨與虛幻，男人的可愛與女人的溫柔一一掬起，超越世代，沁入人心的田邊流戀愛小說

十二種男人的廢與可愛，十二則像熱可可般甜中帶苦的愛情。

家世顯赫卻愛撒嬌的男人，愛打扮卻羞於讓人發現的男人，年紀一大把卻天真無邪的男人，還有吃軟飯的小白臉，外人看來噁心，兩人照樣恩愛的男人……這些在世俗眼光中堪稱「不太及格」的男人，書中女主角皆溫柔地包容著他們。
就像男人淋浴後渾身濕答答，而她們，張開浴巾將男人整個包覆。
沒有受害者意識，也不依賴對方，就只是純粹欣賞與相愛。


這些人愛得直接，愛得傻氣，卻直擊了我們的心，
就像深夜裡喝著熱可可，既苦澀又甜蜜。

284 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1978

About the author

Seiko TANABE (田辺 聖子) was a Japanese writer and translator.

Reviews

[Angel 一匹狼 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charming little book that compiles some short stories that center around young women, "孤独な夜のココア" is a nice read, not very challenging, that can be enjoyed by everyone. Tanabe's stories are easy to read (except for the part when the characters speak in Kansai dialect, which makes some sentences a little bit difficult to follow; that's what happens when one gets used to an 'official' grammar for a language...), the writing style is fast but with more depth that seems at first sight, and the storytelling enjoyable. Tanabe introduces the characters in a few sentences and makes them alive, making the reader care for them.

However, these women (who are pretty smart and nice to be with), seem to be a little bit too obsessed for my own taste with love, and more than love, men and marriage. It is not that the stories are boring or the characters become overbearing, but... It can feel a little bit too much (maybe not for others, but on the third or forth time that men appear as a 'futurible' husband, I was, blegh). On the other hand, some of the stories are particularly charming and touching, which more than makes for any shortcomings that may appear in the more 'simple' ones.

The best: a couple of the stories, as the one with the woman that visits her 'bad' aunt and her lover are quite touching; these women work and have an independent mind, which is always nice, and are way more developed than in other books (I know it may sound silly, but if you read the book, it may be clearer)

The worst: the stories are a little bit repetitive, in particular when it comes to all these young women with so much in front of them, but so obsessed with love and finding a man; the Kansai dialect (or Kyoto' once) makes conversations sometimes difficult

Other options: Shion Miura, which I cannot recommend enough, is a great option; Margaret Atwood, Henrik Ibsen, or Jaume Cabré are also more or less 'realistic' authors with great character development

6.5/10

(Japanese original language)

[Siri Hsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

女性寫女性，女性寫戀愛感情。
看多了日本男人寫女人，總覺得心裡不是滋味。他們眼中的女人像是連我都無法理解的另一種生物（即所謂想像出來的女性？）。田邊聖子的故事很可愛。