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Lover on the breeze
22 pages, Unknown Binding
Published January 1, 2011
About the author
Sayaka Murata
42 books9,799 followersSayaka Murata (in Japanese, 村田 沙耶香) is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers in Japan today.
She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write Convenience Store Woman (Konbini Ningen). She debuted in 2003 with Junyu (Breastfeeding), which won the Gunzo Prize for new writers. In 2009 she won the Noma Prize for New Writers with Gin iro no uta (Silver Song), and in 2013 the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-oro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City). Convenience Store Woman won the 2016 Akutagawa Award. Murata has two short stories published in English (both translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori): "Lover on the Breeze" (Ruptured Fiction(s) of the Earthquake, Waseda Bungaku, 2011) and "A Clean Marriage" (Granta 127: Japan, 2014).
She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write Convenience Store Woman (Konbini Ningen). She debuted in 2003 with Junyu (Breastfeeding), which won the Gunzo Prize for new writers. In 2009 she won the Noma Prize for New Writers with Gin iro no uta (Silver Song), and in 2013 the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-oro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City). Convenience Store Woman won the 2016 Akutagawa Award. Murata has two short stories published in English (both translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori): "Lover on the Breeze" (Ruptured Fiction(s) of the Earthquake, Waseda Bungaku, 2011) and "A Clean Marriage" (Granta 127: Japan, 2014).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2020
Lover on the breeze was an okay read, about a young girl and her ... umm... curtain. We see how the curtain sees her grow up and get a boyfriend and their relationship. Overall, an okay read.
July 5, 2020
Puff the magic.....curtain!
A slight but fanciful short story translated from the Japanese original written in response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident as part of Waseka Bungaku, a fundraiser for the Red Cross.
It's pleasantly disarming but not particularly memorable, a pleasant piece of storytelling overall.
A slight but fanciful short story translated from the Japanese original written in response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident as part of Waseka Bungaku, a fundraiser for the Red Cross.
It's pleasantly disarming but not particularly memorable, a pleasant piece of storytelling overall.
March 31, 2026
it was .. interesting. detailed and great storytelling, immersive in the way it describes the environment and characters. but it was. strange.
May 13, 2021
Relished this tale where a curtain was given personhood. Object Stories are so fascinating, and in this one we have a queered sense of sexuality imparted. The only drawback might be that at times it seems the curtain is more so a mediator object, between the two humans, rather than autonomous in their own being. Regardless, the story functions very well, and writing is so clean, like all of Murata's writing. I wish they had more of their writing translated into English.
February 9, 2021
Soo...this is written from the perspective of a window curtain. Sexual and romantic attraction, and jealousy and infidelity (?) occurs, the likes of which involve said curtain.
To ratchet up the absurdity, Murata wrote this for a Red Cross charity literature collection after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
To ratchet up the absurdity, Murata wrote this for a Red Cross charity literature collection after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews