the title story is very grim, dark, and a bit odd. hard to believe kawakami's husband basically wrote japanese lolita. i find his preoccupation with his hometown 神町 really compelling though, in a faulkneresque (too obvious of a comparison, i know) sort of way. the おまけ are all strange, ranging from pretty good to inscrutable. 馬小屋の少女 starts with an interesting premise, a guy using his day off to go all the way to an old curio shop in a desolate town to buy an 80s sex toy, and suddenly ends in a surrealistic nightmare. i couldn't understand 新宿 ヨドバシカメラ in the slightest, something about some guy's johnny being the Shinjuku Government Building and his beer belly being the Yamanote Line and the mole in his pubic area being the Yodobashi Camera store? too complicated and aimless 20世紀 was very good, a 5 part short story about a man trying to find the origin of 神町's name. maybe something to translate in the future?