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Nails and Eyes
Tense, subtly disturbing Japanese literary horror perfect for fans of The Memory Police, Tender is the Flesh, Fever Dream, and The Vegetarian.
Paired with two stories of creeping tension and unsettled minds, the unnerving title novella Nails and Eyes introduces a unique new voice in Japanese literature.
With masterful narrative control, Nails and Eyes—appearing in English for the first time—builds to a conclusion of uncanny power.
A young girl addresses her stepmother, who has moved in shortly after her mother’s death in unusual circumstances. The girl shows strangely detailed knowledge of the older woman’s life, and as her stepmother settles into the house, the girl’s obsession sharpens to an ever finer point.
Paired with two stories of creeping tension and unsettled minds, the unnerving title novella Nails and Eyes introduces a unique new voice in Japanese literature.
With masterful narrative control, Nails and Eyes—appearing in English for the first time—builds to a conclusion of uncanny power.
A young girl addresses her stepmother, who has moved in shortly after her mother’s death in unusual circumstances. The girl shows strangely detailed knowledge of the older woman’s life, and as her stepmother settles into the house, the girl’s obsession sharpens to an ever finer point.
144 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2013
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September 17, 2023
‘I never forgot what you said…’
I find quotidian horrors to really get in under your skin, unsettling you in the tamest of spaces and making any shadow a possible lurking nightmare. Which is what works best in Nails and Eyes, the Akutagawa Prize winning novella by Kaori Fujino, an unsettling tale of a young woman living in claustrophobic proximity with a young child after usurping the role formerly occupied by the dead wife of the man with whom she’d been having an affair. Beautifully translated by Kendall Heitzmann and published by Pushkin Press along with two short stories that, unfortunately, are more filler than fearsome, this is a story that works best when exploring the uneasy aspects of domesticity that—for myself at least—seemed underserved by a rather cheap ending going for dramatic shock instead of slow-simmering distress. Making excellent symbolism with eyesight and nails, this is a well-crafted story full of fantastic atmosphere that had a lot of unrealized potential for me but will likely be a great thrill for many readers.
‘It's good to try not to see things. You should try it. It's good to close your eyes to things.’
I really enjoyed the way this story focuses so much on ideas of vision. There is the unnamed young woman, who has notably poor vision that functions as a metaphor for her poor intuition, juxtaposed with the narrator who is said to have exceptional vision. This, apparently, includes being able to see beyond herself and into the hearts of others. The story is narrated some years down the line from the events that transpire, all told to “you”—the then young woman who moved in after the death of the narrator’s mother in an ‘accident’—but is highly perceptive of what is going on despite the character only being 3 years old. Which is a big stretch and sort of fell flat for me. The age is sort of necessary for the plot to work but even the larger concept here of vision encompasses the idea of seeing back into one’s past just didn’t fully land. But the idea that the woman can’t see well and also takes no notice of the young child, pacifying her with a constant diet of sweets to keep her out of the way, works quite well. She has stumbled through life having made poor choices but passing through them unscathed with a total lack of self-awareness, but time is running out on her luck, she just can’t see it. When she comes across a certain passage in a novel, it speaks to her:
She doesn’t bother to learn the context of a quote (said by a despotic dictator) and can’t see how aligning herself with it is not to anyone’s benefit. I found I quite liked the middle of the story as she tries to usurp the role of the now-deceased mother, reading her home-life blog and trying to decorate and cultivate a good sense of taste in the apartment space.
‘You had possibilities. I had possibilities, too, and they vastly outnumbered yours.’
The writing during these passages especially shines, and with the overall uneasy atmosphere it was making for a sharp novella where disposing of a lover’s wife to fill the role poorly while not even realize you are drowning in your own life could have been enough as an unnerving tale. In a way I was reminded of Mieko Kawakami’s unsettling visions. I liked the aspect too of the woman trying to make the home seem bigger as a refusal to notice how small her life really was as the metaphorical walls are closing in around her without her noticing. Though this is likely more a “its not you its me” reception to the story but I felt the ending seemed forced and, while it did build to that, a dramatic outpouring for the sake of a shocking twist never feels as effective to me as ones that ends like a soundless scream engulfing us in its jaws of quotidian terror within which we are all trapped. But thats just me, you might love this, plenty of others have.
Also .
The other two stories, while quite well written, fell a bit flat for me (I probably would have 4 starred this otherwise as I admit the craft of the novella is good and it hits its intended goals even if that just wasn’t to my subjective taste). The first involves an elderly woman in hospice who has a nightly visitor to her bed but only when he arrives she ‘remembers that they go through this every night’ and forgets during the day (or does she repress the memory). One can ascertain what is probably, horrifically, happening even without being said and the unsaid or unnoticed is a big theme with Fujino in this collection. The final one, which ends pretty abruptly, deals with a child afraid he has been cursed by the local park he was obsessed with, and here we also see obsessions—like the young woman’s obsession with cultivating a home—bring us towards our possible demise.
Overall, this wasn’t my favorite though I the writing is sharp and Fujimo has a great dexterity in playing with her themes and symbols. This isn’t horror, per say, more uneasiness of the ordinary bringing us right to the precipice of horror, yet the unsettling aspects of it achieve its purpose. Nails and Eyes shows a lot of promise and I would certainly try her again, this one just didn’t quite work for me though I do respect its many merits.
3/5
I find quotidian horrors to really get in under your skin, unsettling you in the tamest of spaces and making any shadow a possible lurking nightmare. Which is what works best in Nails and Eyes, the Akutagawa Prize winning novella by Kaori Fujino, an unsettling tale of a young woman living in claustrophobic proximity with a young child after usurping the role formerly occupied by the dead wife of the man with whom she’d been having an affair. Beautifully translated by Kendall Heitzmann and published by Pushkin Press along with two short stories that, unfortunately, are more filler than fearsome, this is a story that works best when exploring the uneasy aspects of domesticity that—for myself at least—seemed underserved by a rather cheap ending going for dramatic shock instead of slow-simmering distress. Making excellent symbolism with eyesight and nails, this is a well-crafted story full of fantastic atmosphere that had a lot of unrealized potential for me but will likely be a great thrill for many readers.
‘It's good to try not to see things. You should try it. It's good to close your eyes to things.’
I really enjoyed the way this story focuses so much on ideas of vision. There is the unnamed young woman, who has notably poor vision that functions as a metaphor for her poor intuition, juxtaposed with the narrator who is said to have exceptional vision. This, apparently, includes being able to see beyond herself and into the hearts of others. The story is narrated some years down the line from the events that transpire, all told to “you”—the then young woman who moved in after the death of the narrator’s mother in an ‘accident’—but is highly perceptive of what is going on despite the character only being 3 years old. Which is a big stretch and sort of fell flat for me. The age is sort of necessary for the plot to work but even the larger concept here of vision encompasses the idea of seeing back into one’s past just didn’t fully land. But the idea that the woman can’t see well and also takes no notice of the young child, pacifying her with a constant diet of sweets to keep her out of the way, works quite well. She has stumbled through life having made poor choices but passing through them unscathed with a total lack of self-awareness, but time is running out on her luck, she just can’t see it. When she comes across a certain passage in a novel, it speaks to her:
’‘You need to try closing your eyes to all of it, too. It’s just that easy. No matter how awful something is, it all goes away once you do that. If I can’t see it, it’s as if it’s not even there. Not for me, anyway, it’s not.’
She doesn’t bother to learn the context of a quote (said by a despotic dictator) and can’t see how aligning herself with it is not to anyone’s benefit. I found I quite liked the middle of the story as she tries to usurp the role of the now-deceased mother, reading her home-life blog and trying to decorate and cultivate a good sense of taste in the apartment space.
‘You had possibilities. I had possibilities, too, and they vastly outnumbered yours.’
The writing during these passages especially shines, and with the overall uneasy atmosphere it was making for a sharp novella where disposing of a lover’s wife to fill the role poorly while not even realize you are drowning in your own life could have been enough as an unnerving tale. In a way I was reminded of Mieko Kawakami’s unsettling visions. I liked the aspect too of the woman trying to make the home seem bigger as a refusal to notice how small her life really was as the metaphorical walls are closing in around her without her noticing. Though this is likely more a “its not you its me” reception to the story but I felt the ending seemed forced and, while it did build to that, a dramatic outpouring for the sake of a shocking twist never feels as effective to me as ones that ends like a soundless scream engulfing us in its jaws of quotidian terror within which we are all trapped. But thats just me, you might love this, plenty of others have.
Also .
The other two stories, while quite well written, fell a bit flat for me (I probably would have 4 starred this otherwise as I admit the craft of the novella is good and it hits its intended goals even if that just wasn’t to my subjective taste). The first involves an elderly woman in hospice who has a nightly visitor to her bed but only when he arrives she ‘remembers that they go through this every night’ and forgets during the day (or does she repress the memory). One can ascertain what is probably, horrifically, happening even without being said and the unsaid or unnoticed is a big theme with Fujino in this collection. The final one, which ends pretty abruptly, deals with a child afraid he has been cursed by the local park he was obsessed with, and here we also see obsessions—like the young woman’s obsession with cultivating a home—bring us towards our possible demise.
Overall, this wasn’t my favorite though I the writing is sharp and Fujimo has a great dexterity in playing with her themes and symbols. This isn’t horror, per say, more uneasiness of the ordinary bringing us right to the precipice of horror, yet the unsettling aspects of it achieve its purpose. Nails and Eyes shows a lot of promise and I would certainly try her again, this one just didn’t quite work for me though I do respect its many merits.
3/5
March 10, 2023
A pleasingly unnerving collection exploring themes around gender, knowledge and perception. It includes two of Fujino’s short stories but the standout is her novella Nails and Eyes which won Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize. What all of these entries share is a tight focus on women who’re all literally or metaphorically trapped in a succession of claustrophobic spaces. All of whom appear caught up in negotiating a world in which individuals are unable to fully connect, often seemingly unconvinced of the sentience of the people around them.
Nails and Eyes is a remarkably fluid, almost hypnotic piece perhaps, if I look at it with a more critical eye, the imagery might be a little overblown and laboured in places but even so, for me, it worked brilliantly. It’s presented from an unusual angle, a woman Hina is retracing aspects of her troubled childhood through what appears to be a direct address to her stepmother. But Hina’s account of her stepmother’s thoughts and motives is bewildering, filled with details, from events to intimate thoughts, it seems almost impossible for Hina to have ever uncovered. If Hina’s version of the past is to be believed then Hina’s stepmother moved in with Hina and her father less than two months after Hina’s mother’s mysterious death, yet displays a disturbing lack of curiosity about this or any other aspect of Hina’s existence. In her intense and unsettling narrative, Fujino shifts between realism and surreal, domestic gothic teasing out issues around power, femininity and conformity. The result is a compelling, enigmatic portrait of a woman and child bound together by some kind of self-induced alienation that culminates in a sudden, memorable outburst of violence.
The short story “What Shoko Forgets” similarly trades on uncertainty, here a woman in a facility is recovering from a stroke that affected her short-term memory, not sure if she is or isn’t the victim of some form of abuse, it’s an interesting take on isolation and trauma but felt a little underdeveloped. For me the final entry, "Minute Fears" which revolves around maternal obligation and ambivalence was comparatively weak, Fujino juxtaposes the experiences of a mother desperate for an evening outing with old friends with those of her terrified child, prey to a playground fantasy fuelled by urban legend and amorphous terrors. Translated by Kendall Heitzman.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Pushkin Press for an ARC
Rating: 3.5 to 4
Nails and Eyes is a remarkably fluid, almost hypnotic piece perhaps, if I look at it with a more critical eye, the imagery might be a little overblown and laboured in places but even so, for me, it worked brilliantly. It’s presented from an unusual angle, a woman Hina is retracing aspects of her troubled childhood through what appears to be a direct address to her stepmother. But Hina’s account of her stepmother’s thoughts and motives is bewildering, filled with details, from events to intimate thoughts, it seems almost impossible for Hina to have ever uncovered. If Hina’s version of the past is to be believed then Hina’s stepmother moved in with Hina and her father less than two months after Hina’s mother’s mysterious death, yet displays a disturbing lack of curiosity about this or any other aspect of Hina’s existence. In her intense and unsettling narrative, Fujino shifts between realism and surreal, domestic gothic teasing out issues around power, femininity and conformity. The result is a compelling, enigmatic portrait of a woman and child bound together by some kind of self-induced alienation that culminates in a sudden, memorable outburst of violence.
The short story “What Shoko Forgets” similarly trades on uncertainty, here a woman in a facility is recovering from a stroke that affected her short-term memory, not sure if she is or isn’t the victim of some form of abuse, it’s an interesting take on isolation and trauma but felt a little underdeveloped. For me the final entry, "Minute Fears" which revolves around maternal obligation and ambivalence was comparatively weak, Fujino juxtaposes the experiences of a mother desperate for an evening outing with old friends with those of her terrified child, prey to a playground fantasy fuelled by urban legend and amorphous terrors. Translated by Kendall Heitzman.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Pushkin Press for an ARC
Rating: 3.5 to 4
February 19, 2024
Nails and Eyes won the prestigious Akutagawa literary prize in Japan, in 2013. It's just recently been made available in English translation. I found it in a most oddly curated little book store, nestled on a shelf with Kafka's entire works, and Ottessa Moshfegh's complete backlist. I picked it up, attracted immediately by the minimalist cover, then by the synopsis - "unsettled minds and creeping tension", "masterful narrative control", "daring new voice in Japanese literature" - I had to have it.
I'm a dabbler in Japanese lit, and for the most part have loved what I've found there. Or maybe what I've not found there... western sentimentality, for one. Western squeamishness, two.
So, this slim volume that features 3 stories, didn't disappoint, in that regard. The language, which is crisp and spare. The reality in each of the stories tilting at a dangerous angle.
The titular story is the strongest (and by far the longest) and immediately Fujino sets us on a surreal course. Narrated in 2nd person by a character who was three at the time of the onset of the story, it's completely impossible that she should have any of the knowledge or insight that she does. But she does, and she's all we've got. She's addressing her father's mistress, who comes on the scene after her mother's disturbing death. The bodily symbols of nails and eyes come into play throughout the 90 pages, and then dramatically at the climax. "Now can you see everything clearly?" Shiver. The claustrophobia, the fear, the emptiness. This story definitely dips its eyes and nails in horror. But you only really perceive that at the end, when you look back and realize what you've read.
"What Shoko Forgets" also plays with reality in that the main character is an elderly woman in a rehabilitation facility who has a nightly visitor (not a welcome one). Or does she? Either way, she is in a living nightmare because it feels all too real. Again, the author explores the themes of alienation and claustrophobia.
"Minute Fears" was my least favourite of the three. It was entirely readable and I was along for the ride - the mother who is getting ready for a rare night out with her friends, whose son is hysterical about being left alone, and who is inconsolable even when his father is with him - but the ending felt camp and a bit silly.
Despite that, this was a win for me. The economy the author employs and the murkiness of her material has left me wishing there was more. Consider me intrigued (and grateful that I don't wear contact lenses).
I'm a dabbler in Japanese lit, and for the most part have loved what I've found there. Or maybe what I've not found there... western sentimentality, for one. Western squeamishness, two.
So, this slim volume that features 3 stories, didn't disappoint, in that regard. The language, which is crisp and spare. The reality in each of the stories tilting at a dangerous angle.
The titular story is the strongest (and by far the longest) and immediately Fujino sets us on a surreal course. Narrated in 2nd person by a character who was three at the time of the onset of the story, it's completely impossible that she should have any of the knowledge or insight that she does. But she does, and she's all we've got. She's addressing her father's mistress, who comes on the scene after her mother's disturbing death. The bodily symbols of nails and eyes come into play throughout the 90 pages, and then dramatically at the climax. "Now can you see everything clearly?" Shiver. The claustrophobia, the fear, the emptiness. This story definitely dips its eyes and nails in horror. But you only really perceive that at the end, when you look back and realize what you've read.
"What Shoko Forgets" also plays with reality in that the main character is an elderly woman in a rehabilitation facility who has a nightly visitor (not a welcome one). Or does she? Either way, she is in a living nightmare because it feels all too real. Again, the author explores the themes of alienation and claustrophobia.
"Minute Fears" was my least favourite of the three. It was entirely readable and I was along for the ride - the mother who is getting ready for a rare night out with her friends, whose son is hysterical about being left alone, and who is inconsolable even when his father is with him - but the ending felt camp and a bit silly.
Despite that, this was a win for me. The economy the author employs and the murkiness of her material has left me wishing there was more. Consider me intrigued (and grateful that I don't wear contact lenses).
November 5, 2023
Three little stories. None of them really scary but none of them really non-eerie either – this is what Kaori Fujino puts up for us readers in her first English collection Nails and Eyes.
Starting with a creepy kid story (and boy, she is creepy) which flows into fine body horror; we then find two much shorter, and maybe a little less striking tales, plotwise. What is striking though are the characters Fujino draws; interesting to follow, easy to understand and each with their own, distinct inner life.
It was really too much of a bite-sized collection and I wish there were more of these stories, so I'd definitely read more by the author.
Starting with a creepy kid story (and boy, she is creepy) which flows into fine body horror; we then find two much shorter, and maybe a little less striking tales, plotwise. What is striking though are the characters Fujino draws; interesting to follow, easy to understand and each with their own, distinct inner life.
It was really too much of a bite-sized collection and I wish there were more of these stories, so I'd definitely read more by the author.
April 15, 2025
read : 15th of jan. 2024 - 16th of jan. 2024
well…i’m conflicted…& disappointed.
i will have to ponder on my rating.
i felt that the writing style was beautifully brilliant, whilst the stories themselves fell flat. what a shame.
update : upon further reflection i've settled on a 3.5 stars for the reasons stated above. i love beautiful writing but that can't always carry a story entirely, & that was definitely the case with this collection. the set up to all of these stories was eerie, unsettling, tense, strange & beautifully written, but by the end of the stories there was incredible disappointment. i found myself saying "that's it?" which is never a good sign. i felt like there was a lot of buildup for a very lackluster ending. if the stories were more fleshed out & fulled wrapped up, didn't try to bank on the strange & eeriness, but actually had substance, this collection could've easily been a 5 star.
⭑⭑⭑ 1/2
well…i’m conflicted…& disappointed.
i will have to ponder on my rating.
i felt that the writing style was beautifully brilliant, whilst the stories themselves fell flat. what a shame.
update : upon further reflection i've settled on a 3.5 stars for the reasons stated above. i love beautiful writing but that can't always carry a story entirely, & that was definitely the case with this collection. the set up to all of these stories was eerie, unsettling, tense, strange & beautifully written, but by the end of the stories there was incredible disappointment. i found myself saying "that's it?" which is never a good sign. i felt like there was a lot of buildup for a very lackluster ending. if the stories were more fleshed out & fulled wrapped up, didn't try to bank on the strange & eeriness, but actually had substance, this collection could've easily been a 5 star.
⭑⭑⭑ 1/2
July 17, 2023
The title novella yields a subtle form of unease throughout which seems to be located in what isn't said. Told in that difficult 2nd person form, it raises questions about what can be known as the narrator appears to have access to her stepmother's feelings that, in reality, must be closed to her. In that sense, this raises issues of perception and imagination or fantasy, indicated figuratively through the focus (ha!) on eyes and contact lenses.
A nicely layered tale with some macabre touches (how did the mother get locked out on the balcony?).
Thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via NetGalley
A nicely layered tale with some macabre touches (how did the mother get locked out on the balcony?).
Thanks to Pushkin Press for an ARC via NetGalley
July 20, 2023
Okay. I need to gather my thoughts. I've given this book 5 stars because of the title story alone. The other 2 short stories are good but Nails and Eyes actually brought me up short. I had to put the book down then read it again because it absolutely threw me.
Kaori Fujino is a new author to me but if this is a taster of her style then she is clearly of that distinct breed of young Japanese fiction writers who consistently shock and amaze with their storytelling (Hiromi Kawakami, Sayaka Murata and Yoko Ogawa come to mind).
Nails and Eyes is narrated by a child speaking about her step-mother. The death of her own mother is shrouded in some mystery but since the child was barely three when her mother died she remembers few details. The step-mother starts as quite a separate figure who barely engages with the child but after a time she becomes more domestic, enjoying her new life as wife and mother.
The claustrophobic nature of the relationship is paramount in this story. The child always watching and registering changes within her home, the father barely a presence. The tension in the home builds every day as the child bites her nails, refuses to enter certain rooms, is bribed with snacks and becomes barely communicative at home and pre-school.
The conclusion to this creepy story is utterly breathtaking. It was masterful. I'm still reeling from it.
The following two stories - What Shoko Forgets and Minute Fears are both clever, shocking and strange. In any other collection they would be stand out short stories but Nails and Eyes towers over them.
An excellent collection. Loved it. Highly recommend it for any lover of short stories, new Japanese fiction, just plain strange tales.
Thankyou so much to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advance review copy. I cannot wait for more by this author.
Kaori Fujino is a new author to me but if this is a taster of her style then she is clearly of that distinct breed of young Japanese fiction writers who consistently shock and amaze with their storytelling (Hiromi Kawakami, Sayaka Murata and Yoko Ogawa come to mind).
Nails and Eyes is narrated by a child speaking about her step-mother. The death of her own mother is shrouded in some mystery but since the child was barely three when her mother died she remembers few details. The step-mother starts as quite a separate figure who barely engages with the child but after a time she becomes more domestic, enjoying her new life as wife and mother.
The claustrophobic nature of the relationship is paramount in this story. The child always watching and registering changes within her home, the father barely a presence. The tension in the home builds every day as the child bites her nails, refuses to enter certain rooms, is bribed with snacks and becomes barely communicative at home and pre-school.
The conclusion to this creepy story is utterly breathtaking. It was masterful. I'm still reeling from it.
The following two stories - What Shoko Forgets and Minute Fears are both clever, shocking and strange. In any other collection they would be stand out short stories but Nails and Eyes towers over them.
An excellent collection. Loved it. Highly recommend it for any lover of short stories, new Japanese fiction, just plain strange tales.
Thankyou so much to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the advance review copy. I cannot wait for more by this author.
July 31, 2023
You took off your glasses and set them on the table. My nails really were beautiful. They gleamed, and there wasn’t a single imperfection to be found. You went over to the sofa and flopped down. Still sitting in my chair and holding my fingers out, I watched you stretch out. It wasn’t unusual for you to lie on your back like that. But now, horizontal on the sofa, you looked like something the furniture store had thrown in as part of the package. You closed your eyes. But that’s not to say that you fell asleep.
Comprised of a novella (the titular tale, which won Japan’s Akutagawa Prize) and two short stories, this collection, while not quite horror, explores feminist themes of women’s lives and roles in modern Japanese society; a position seemingly pulsing with dread and danger. Kaori Fujino’s writing (in translation by Kendall Heitzmann) is crisp and allusive, and despite frequent whiffs of the supernatural, I absolutely believed the lives and characters she has created here. A short read that I found totally satisfying. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
You couldn’t see anything that you could make sense of. There was only light. In front of you, there was brightness. And a surprising clarity. Your past and future, equally clear, stretched out from your body into the distance. You weren’t able to focus on any single particular event. But all the time that had passed to this point in your life and all the time that remained to you had formed into a single plane of glass that now threatened to cut you in half at the waist. ~ Nails and Eyes
Such a creepy novella. Narrated in the second person POV by a woman who was three at the time of the story she’s telling — and who could not possibly have known the intimate thoughts and actions of the others that she’s relating — this is the tale of a young woman who moves in with her widowed boyfriend, mere months after his wife died in strange circumstances. This mistress who becomes a reluctant/neglectful mother-figure and housewife is pretty unlikeable, and the little girl she’s in charge of is clearly damaged, and there’s a claustrophobic tension that builds to a disturbing climax.
Now more than ever, Shoko despises anything and everything: Kawabata, and her daughter who doesn’t understand a thing, and her granddaughter who acts like a child well into her adulthood, and herself: an old woman who forgets her own name until the moment someone calls her by it. ~ What Shoko Forgets
Melancholy story of an old woman in a rehab hospital, visited every night by a mysterious stranger. It’s hard to say whether these visits happen in fact or only in Shoko’s muddled mind, but they are very real and disturbing to her.
I was overcome by a mixture of rage and inebriation. I felt that I had to protect Daiki. Children are horrible. Two days from now, Daiki would of course be alive and well, and he would show up at school perfectly fine, but that didn’t mean the other children would all gather around to congratulate him on escaping the jaws of death. They might even start bullying him. Daiki, the cursed child. ~ Minute Fears
A pocket park, a ghost, a curse: This story of a young Mom who wants to go out for the evening with her old college friends — but who is held back by her uncharacteristically clinging child — suggests that we might become ghosts of ourselves while still living our lives; and isn’t that a horrifying thought?
I don't want to give away any more than that, but if you enjoy reading Mona Awad or Han Kang — as I do —you'll probably enjoy this as well.
March 19, 2024
Masterfully written, tense, and atmospheric, but let down by an ending that is bonkers in its mundanity. I will say that this is the issue I have with a lot of litfic; it was certainly my biggest complaint with My Year of Rest and Relaxation. The author has a character concept, and a strong one at that, and something to say about it—something nuanced, chilling, challenging; some of the exploration here about motherhood, social media, mommy blogging, toxic positivity, and consumerism is gorgeously eerie—but struggles to build a structurally sound plot. And you could say that this isn’t a plot, it’s a situation, a simulation, unlikely bedfellows literally touching eyeballs, and that would be fine if I hadn’t come away from this feeling edged. That’s probably the point, but for a book so carefully written, crafted with so many layers, the ending felt simultaneously overwritten and hollow.
I think I wanted to take more away from this than I did.
I think I wanted to take more away from this than I did.
October 26, 2025
Featuring reimagined tropes of horror, this novella and two short stories are unsettling, eerie and claustrophobic
Children are horrible
A daughter faces her new, indifferent stepmother, a woman in a care home is recovering from a fall and contending with the attention of a young male patient and a woman does her makeup while contemplating her seven year-old son who is obsessed with the neighbourhood playground.
All three stories are more than a bit eerie and unsettling in their normality.
The novella that kicks off the book was the Akutagawa prize winner 2013 and is by far the strongest. Usurping a dead mother’s role leads a young (as it is told in the second person’s perspective) to realise awkward truths about her stepdaughter. Vision and contact lenses feature prominently and we start to feel pity for the you that while unsympathetic might be in an equally dire position as her predecessor:
You weren’t a beauty queen, you were moderately attractive, but you had the kind of allure that men responded to—and you knew you had it. Your sexual antennae were fine-tuned to detect the slightest interest from a man. And from there you never missed your mark. It was as easy as smushing bugs on a potted plant with your fingertips. You weren’t the type to feel a burning desire for something you didn’t have, and whenever something did land in your clutches, you took what you could get from it and let it go. No need for anything that cramped your style, and no need for anything unreasonably passionate. That was love to you.
Children are horrible
A daughter faces her new, indifferent stepmother, a woman in a care home is recovering from a fall and contending with the attention of a young male patient and a woman does her makeup while contemplating her seven year-old son who is obsessed with the neighbourhood playground.
All three stories are more than a bit eerie and unsettling in their normality.
The novella that kicks off the book was the Akutagawa prize winner 2013 and is by far the strongest. Usurping a dead mother’s role leads a young (as it is told in the second person’s perspective) to realise awkward truths about her stepdaughter. Vision and contact lenses feature prominently and we start to feel pity for the you that while unsympathetic might be in an equally dire position as her predecessor:
You weren’t a beauty queen, you were moderately attractive, but you had the kind of allure that men responded to—and you knew you had it. Your sexual antennae were fine-tuned to detect the slightest interest from a man. And from there you never missed your mark. It was as easy as smushing bugs on a potted plant with your fingertips. You weren’t the type to feel a burning desire for something you didn’t have, and whenever something did land in your clutches, you took what you could get from it and let it go. No need for anything that cramped your style, and no need for anything unreasonably passionate. That was love to you.
February 1, 2024
Pierwsze opowiadanie było świetne - przeszywające i niepokojące, reszta mnie zawiodła.
July 21, 2023
Three stories: one novella and two short stories. Literary horror. Although this is not classic horror, it is a very subtle horror. While reading, we experience uneasiness, and we have this unsettling feeling.
This edition includes:
* Nails and Eyes (novella)
My absolute favorite of all three. The narrator is an adult, and she tells the story of her father’s girlfriend when the narrator was a child. 2nd person POV works surprisingly well here.
* What Shoko Forgets (short story)
The short story is about a woman recovering after a stroke in a medical facility. Every night, a mysterious man visits her, but her memories are blurry because her short-term memory is affected.
* Minute Fears (short story)
A son is upset because he believes the playground is cursed and no one should be there past 4:44.
The author won Akutagawa Prize for novella Nails and Eyes.
Thanks to Pushkin Press for the advanced copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
This edition includes:
* Nails and Eyes (novella)
My absolute favorite of all three. The narrator is an adult, and she tells the story of her father’s girlfriend when the narrator was a child. 2nd person POV works surprisingly well here.
* What Shoko Forgets (short story)
The short story is about a woman recovering after a stroke in a medical facility. Every night, a mysterious man visits her, but her memories are blurry because her short-term memory is affected.
* Minute Fears (short story)
A son is upset because he believes the playground is cursed and no one should be there past 4:44.
The author won Akutagawa Prize for novella Nails and Eyes.
Thanks to Pushkin Press for the advanced copy and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.
October 12, 2023
It was unexpected that I didn't enjoy this novel despite it having all of my favourite elements—a mother-daughter bond, a spooky atmosphere, and disturbing conversation. I'm not exactly sure why, but even the book cover and the title are lovely. I rated this book two stars solely on the entertainment factor.
January 27, 2025
Nails and Eyes is composed of a Japanese novella & two short stories. The title novella is unsettling, claustrophobic, and one of those literary fiction pieces that has you on the edge of your seat. The two short stories are just as gripping and thought-provoking. I read this to take part in #januaryinjapan 🥹
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September 19, 2023The horror of being a housewife.
September 16, 2023
My thanks to Pushkin Press for a review copy of this book via Edelweiss.
An unsettling and creepy collection of three stories, a novella and two shorter works, Nails and Eyes by Kauro Fujino and translated by Kendall Heitzman is the first of Pushkin’s new set of Japanese novellas that I found myself dipping into. These aren’t certainly ‘horror’ in the sense of having supernatural elements but a brand of everyday sort of unease which can be all the more disturbing because it is just that—every day.
The opening story is the titular ‘Nails and Eyes’, where Hina narrates the story of her childhood, where after her mother’s mysterious death (which incidentally is never really explained), which leaves her traumatised, her father’s girlfriend moves in taking on the stepmother’s role, looking after Hina in just a perfunctory way, not really aware or taking much interest. Hina on the other hand seems to know every little detail from her meeting with her father to her thoughts and dreams, in a way that she possibly can’t (Is this just how Hina sees it or is she exceptionally perceptive). Yet Hina sees herself in not very different a situation as this stepmother:
For you and me, this [ridding oneself of suffering; closing one’s eyes to one’s own sins] was not an option. When it comes down to it, we’re the powerless riff-raff.
As we navigate the worlds of this ‘stepmother’ and also Hina’s own mother (in her case too Hina seems to access thoughts beyond what is visible) with the former trying to create a ‘new’ life and image for herself with plenty of missteps along the way, the story moves to a rather disturbing culmination that one won’t easily forget.
Shoko in ‘What Shoko Forgets’ is in a rehabilitation home, having suffered a stroke and some injuries. Her memories are hazy, and we get a sense of her life—perhaps the conventional, marriage, children and such—and her family now, the oldest daughter taking charge of her care, with a disinterested granddaughter (so different from what Shoko thinks women ought to be like) making obligatory visits. But there is another side to this all as it seems a blurry figure (real? imaginary?—the former possibility far more concerning) seems to visit Shoko every night, something no other patient in the ward picks up on. Her memories of this disappear every morning but what do we make of this while also alongside of her feeling of wanting to get away from this place, live comfortably in her home and couch, now that her body is tiring and shutting down.
The final story is as creepy, perhaps more so in its ending which I liked very much. Mika is a young mother (the only one of her friends to have a child) preparing to go for a perhaps rare outing with friends, a wedding reception to which she’s has contributed. But her young son Daiki returns home nervous and scared from the park and refuses to let her leave. While she does ultimately get to the ‘party’—to cold, gluggy and unsatisfying leftovers—her duties as a mother take over again as she returns and attempts to comfort little Daiki, but with an outcome that we might just see coming but poor Mika doesn’t.
Each of these women are living lives in which their wants and desires are perhaps lost and certainly unseen, with no other much caring about them, but with this sense of suffocation is also the unease of the experiences we go through along with them, leaving us quite shaken indeed!
An unsettling and creepy collection of three stories, a novella and two shorter works, Nails and Eyes by Kauro Fujino and translated by Kendall Heitzman is the first of Pushkin’s new set of Japanese novellas that I found myself dipping into. These aren’t certainly ‘horror’ in the sense of having supernatural elements but a brand of everyday sort of unease which can be all the more disturbing because it is just that—every day.
The opening story is the titular ‘Nails and Eyes’, where Hina narrates the story of her childhood, where after her mother’s mysterious death (which incidentally is never really explained), which leaves her traumatised, her father’s girlfriend moves in taking on the stepmother’s role, looking after Hina in just a perfunctory way, not really aware or taking much interest. Hina on the other hand seems to know every little detail from her meeting with her father to her thoughts and dreams, in a way that she possibly can’t (Is this just how Hina sees it or is she exceptionally perceptive). Yet Hina sees herself in not very different a situation as this stepmother:
For you and me, this [ridding oneself of suffering; closing one’s eyes to one’s own sins] was not an option. When it comes down to it, we’re the powerless riff-raff.
As we navigate the worlds of this ‘stepmother’ and also Hina’s own mother (in her case too Hina seems to access thoughts beyond what is visible) with the former trying to create a ‘new’ life and image for herself with plenty of missteps along the way, the story moves to a rather disturbing culmination that one won’t easily forget.
Shoko in ‘What Shoko Forgets’ is in a rehabilitation home, having suffered a stroke and some injuries. Her memories are hazy, and we get a sense of her life—perhaps the conventional, marriage, children and such—and her family now, the oldest daughter taking charge of her care, with a disinterested granddaughter (so different from what Shoko thinks women ought to be like) making obligatory visits. But there is another side to this all as it seems a blurry figure (real? imaginary?—the former possibility far more concerning) seems to visit Shoko every night, something no other patient in the ward picks up on. Her memories of this disappear every morning but what do we make of this while also alongside of her feeling of wanting to get away from this place, live comfortably in her home and couch, now that her body is tiring and shutting down.
The final story is as creepy, perhaps more so in its ending which I liked very much. Mika is a young mother (the only one of her friends to have a child) preparing to go for a perhaps rare outing with friends, a wedding reception to which she’s has contributed. But her young son Daiki returns home nervous and scared from the park and refuses to let her leave. While she does ultimately get to the ‘party’—to cold, gluggy and unsatisfying leftovers—her duties as a mother take over again as she returns and attempts to comfort little Daiki, but with an outcome that we might just see coming but poor Mika doesn’t.
Each of these women are living lives in which their wants and desires are perhaps lost and certainly unseen, with no other much caring about them, but with this sense of suffocation is also the unease of the experiences we go through along with them, leaving us quite shaken indeed!
July 26, 2023
A short, well-written and well-translated collection for those who love Sayaka Murata, Mieko Kawakami and Mieko Kanai. It consists of one novella and two short stories.
In the novella, Nails and Eyes, a daughter directly addresses her negligent stepmother, who has taken the place of her mother who has tragically died under suspicious circumstances. The use of the second person singular works very well here: it is accusatory but it also makes that a lot is left unsaid. Normally I don't like it when body parts are used as symbols, but in this case the girl's nails and the stepmother's eyes are functional and well-integrated in the story.
The other two stories also read very well: quite suspenseful and with a touch of horror.
A good surprise and I would be interested to read more from this author. 3,5
Many thanks for the ARC!
In the novella, Nails and Eyes, a daughter directly addresses her negligent stepmother, who has taken the place of her mother who has tragically died under suspicious circumstances. The use of the second person singular works very well here: it is accusatory but it also makes that a lot is left unsaid. Normally I don't like it when body parts are used as symbols, but in this case the girl's nails and the stepmother's eyes are functional and well-integrated in the story.
The other two stories also read very well: quite suspenseful and with a touch of horror.
A good surprise and I would be interested to read more from this author. 3,5
Many thanks for the ARC!
August 10, 2025
A deliciously chilling little collection. This would be perfect October reading.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
February 17, 2024
Pleasingly unnerving and left me going WTF . I was sure I am pretty desensitized at this point of my reading journey, but it turns out, there are things that will still made my stomach churn and my body jilted just at the very thought of it (**hint: in the title itself**). I was left just staring at my book for a good few minutes before putting out my thoughts for this short yet impactful story and I'm kind of regretting finishing this at 1am :')
Nails and Eyes is a collection of 1 Novella and 2 short stories that plays around with the theme of horror- but in not your ordinary kind - but one that leaves totally up to the reader's thought of view and highlighting the ingenious way of playing with perception and will leave the readers questioning what you're reading again and again.
Nails and Eyes
This for me was by far a novella that struck me good. It left me going WTF so many times I had to put the book down, reread the whole page again, and experiencing again the churning of my stomach and the unease that some scenes had left me. I loved how the author had written the story in second person, and paired with such an unreliable narrator, it leaves the readers intrigued of what will happen to these small family that is filled with so many unlikeable characters. The visceral shock that the story left me had got me teary eyed. Definitely well-written and good lord I will never not look at my contact lens and not remember this story anymore :') It definitely will live in my head rent free.
What Shoko Forgets
A short, yet an impactful read. It left me feeling disoriented at first, and for good reason. The story tackles on loneliness and possible abuse of old people and handling with trauma. Whilst I was a bit disappointed that it was quite underdeveloped, it left quite a big impact as to how the horrors that Shoko had experienced are not from spirits of the unknown, but originated from the doings of mankind. And if you think about it, that's the most terrifying thing to happen after all.
Minute Fears
Cleverly written and a touch of motherhood in an angle that I love. There's something about folk horror that gets you and the ending had made me went :") Definitely a perfect touch to the whole story.
Overall, this collection of short stories is one that I will definitely recommend to those who liked something a bit dark but in a wow-i-didn't-think-this-will-affect-me-but-it-did. Will live somewhat rent free in my brain.
Personal Ratings : 4🌟
Biggest thank you to @Definitelybooks for this gorgeous copy!
"Now can you see everything clearly"
Nails and Eyes is a collection of 1 Novella and 2 short stories that plays around with the theme of horror- but in not your ordinary kind - but one that leaves totally up to the reader's thought of view and highlighting the ingenious way of playing with perception and will leave the readers questioning what you're reading again and again.
Nails and Eyes
This for me was by far a novella that struck me good. It left me going WTF so many times I had to put the book down, reread the whole page again, and experiencing again the churning of my stomach and the unease that some scenes had left me. I loved how the author had written the story in second person, and paired with such an unreliable narrator, it leaves the readers intrigued of what will happen to these small family that is filled with so many unlikeable characters. The visceral shock that the story left me had got me teary eyed. Definitely well-written and good lord I will never not look at my contact lens and not remember this story anymore :') It definitely will live in my head rent free.
What Shoko Forgets
A short, yet an impactful read. It left me feeling disoriented at first, and for good reason. The story tackles on loneliness and possible abuse of old people and handling with trauma. Whilst I was a bit disappointed that it was quite underdeveloped, it left quite a big impact as to how the horrors that Shoko had experienced are not from spirits of the unknown, but originated from the doings of mankind. And if you think about it, that's the most terrifying thing to happen after all.
Minute Fears
Cleverly written and a touch of motherhood in an angle that I love. There's something about folk horror that gets you and the ending had made me went :") Definitely a perfect touch to the whole story.
Overall, this collection of short stories is one that I will definitely recommend to those who liked something a bit dark but in a wow-i-didn't-think-this-will-affect-me-but-it-did. Will live somewhat rent free in my brain.
Personal Ratings : 4🌟
Biggest thank you to @Definitelybooks for this gorgeous copy!
September 7, 2023
This is a collection of three short stories but it has been marketed so wrong. It is described as a “tense, subtly disturbing literary horror” for fans of Samantha Schweblin but there is nothing horror about these stories at all, not even horror adjacent, aside from the mention of a ghost in the last story but that’s about it. The stories seemed underdeveloped and like there was no clear point they were trying to make. A lot of people have said they enjoyed the title story but it just didn’t do it for me and seemed a bit all over the place. There were some interesting concepts in here but it really wasn’t for me.
September 26, 2025
WHAT. THIS WAS SO GOOD.
Ok first of all, this is three novellas - the first one, Nails and Eyes, is the longest and really the only one I care about. I could've done without the second two but they were very short.
Nails and Eyes is a second person narration (LOVE), written as a note from a stepdaughter to her stepmother. The stepmother was the fathers younger secret lover who moves in after his wife dies. The daughter is OBSERVANT AS HELL even though she doesn't really speak and keeps her opinions and thoughts to herself. It was so eerie and creepy seeing the stepmothers entrance into their life from the stepdaughters eyes and I couldn't look away. Once I started reading this I finished it the same day - I can't believe it took me two years to get to.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*
Ok first of all, this is three novellas - the first one, Nails and Eyes, is the longest and really the only one I care about. I could've done without the second two but they were very short.
Nails and Eyes is a second person narration (LOVE), written as a note from a stepdaughter to her stepmother. The stepmother was the fathers younger secret lover who moves in after his wife dies. The daughter is OBSERVANT AS HELL even though she doesn't really speak and keeps her opinions and thoughts to herself. It was so eerie and creepy seeing the stepmothers entrance into their life from the stepdaughters eyes and I couldn't look away. Once I started reading this I finished it the same day - I can't believe it took me two years to get to.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pushkin Press for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*
August 12, 2023
This collection of three stories was okay but not great.
The first story was by far the best of the bunch. It had the most developed and effective narrative and was unsettling, though the POV didn’t really work for me. I honestly had no idea what was happening in the second story. I have theories but I was very confused to the point of not really enjoying the reading experience. The third story had a few creepy moments but felt unfinished. Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this particular book but I would be willing to give this author another try.
Possible trigger warnings: I THINK there was sexual assault in the second story but I’m honestly not sure.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!
The first story was by far the best of the bunch. It had the most developed and effective narrative and was unsettling, though the POV didn’t really work for me. I honestly had no idea what was happening in the second story. I have theories but I was very confused to the point of not really enjoying the reading experience. The third story had a few creepy moments but felt unfinished. Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this particular book but I would be willing to give this author another try.
Possible trigger warnings: I THINK there was sexual assault in the second story but I’m honestly not sure.
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!
November 5, 2023
The other two additional stories were quite lacklustre but the title story Nails and Eyes was great!
July 21, 2023
I had super high expectations for 'Nails and Eyes' after reading the premise but each story just kind of fell flat for me. The first short story, and the namesake of this novella, I struggled to find the purpose of the story and found the characters either not very well developed or just a little bit irritating. I felt a lot of stuff was repeated which isn't great considering this novella is only a measly 112 pages anyway, so I'd like everything written to be new, fresh & exciting.
Then with the two smaller stories, I could barely figure out what was going on right up until the last paragraph and it just didn't feel like it fit into the horror genre at all... maybe magical realism???
I received this from Netgalley in return for an honest review
Then with the two smaller stories, I could barely figure out what was going on right up until the last paragraph and it just didn't feel like it fit into the horror genre at all... maybe magical realism???
I received this from Netgalley in return for an honest review
January 4, 2024
Unsettling or vaguely annoying? Smart or smartass? Not exactly sure yet. It’ll take a while to process. It was certainly different, not least because it was told in a kind of omniscient second person narrative. I know!
March 6, 2024
The novella Nails and Eyes and the two short stories in this book are well written with fascinating characters. I didn’t love the stories, but I can’t remember the last time I read a novel told in 2nd person, which worked really well in creating an unsettling feeling in Nails and Eyes, so I hope to read more by this author.
These 3 stories didn’t wow me, but I think it was more about me than the author and translator so I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys quiet horror and is interested in Japanese horror.
These 3 stories didn’t wow me, but I think it was more about me than the author and translator so I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys quiet horror and is interested in Japanese horror.
January 25, 2024
Guess these stories were written when the author didn’t have enough sleep. There’s not much to these stories just that they try to trigger the reader with plotless but unnecessary triggers.
However, the translation is done well it seems.
However, the translation is done well it seems.
November 11, 2023
japanese horror you have done it again!
▪️this comprises of three eerie and disturbing short stories and each of them were just so creepy
▪️if you were a fan of the likes of tender is the flesh, her body and other parties and the vegetarian to then you'll definitely enjoy this one
▪️i love when a book has the ability to actually make you feel grossed out and make you squirm and the first story in particular did this so well
at only 138 pages this is so worth a read
▪️this comprises of three eerie and disturbing short stories and each of them were just so creepy
▪️if you were a fan of the likes of tender is the flesh, her body and other parties and the vegetarian to then you'll definitely enjoy this one
▪️i love when a book has the ability to actually make you feel grossed out and make you squirm and the first story in particular did this so well
at only 138 pages this is so worth a read
January 6, 2025
Reread Dec. 2024: Still really good!
"You thought of me as something of an animal. Yes, I am an animal—the same as you."
I cannot stop thinking about these stories.
The title novella is obviously the main event here, and for good reason; even throughout its slow, unassuming start, the methodical voice of the narrator, Hina, sets an uneasy tone that I was instantly captivated by. The story itself centers gender issues in a way that is both as subtle and as horrific as patriarchal abuses of power and societal gender roles can be and are within our real world. As the daughter of a neglectful mother, I find myself grappling with my mother’s individual personhood more comprehensively as I get older; bad mothers are, after all, still women in a world that is unfailingly anti-woman. Accordingly, the relationship between neglectful mother and powerless daughter featured in “Nails and Eyes” feels as impossibly intimate as it does unavoidably perilous. Seeing myself in Hina’s detached delineation of a traumatic past, I felt represented, and I felt bereaved. This novella also features one of the wildest, most disturbing conclusions to any fiction in my recent memory. I love when a story can make me audibly react, and my hurried reading of those final few pages was full of gasps, what!?s, and disgusted interjections.
The two short stories, “What Shoko Forgets” and “Minute Fears,” address similar real-world issues in a shorter format. Like a lot of contemporary Japanese authors, Fujino is understated in the delivery of her stories’ themes and “morals,” and I know this level of reservation can be hit-or-miss for Western readers. For me, it has almost always been a hit. The two stories did a lot with few pages, and I highlighted many passages of Fujino’s simple-yet-mesmerizing prose throughout both. I especially loved “Minute Fears” — I need the arthouse adaptation of it in theaters yesterday!
Thank you so much to Pushkin Press for providing this ARC through NetGalley.
"You thought of me as something of an animal. Yes, I am an animal—the same as you."
I cannot stop thinking about these stories.
The title novella is obviously the main event here, and for good reason; even throughout its slow, unassuming start, the methodical voice of the narrator, Hina, sets an uneasy tone that I was instantly captivated by. The story itself centers gender issues in a way that is both as subtle and as horrific as patriarchal abuses of power and societal gender roles can be and are within our real world. As the daughter of a neglectful mother, I find myself grappling with my mother’s individual personhood more comprehensively as I get older; bad mothers are, after all, still women in a world that is unfailingly anti-woman. Accordingly, the relationship between neglectful mother and powerless daughter featured in “Nails and Eyes” feels as impossibly intimate as it does unavoidably perilous. Seeing myself in Hina’s detached delineation of a traumatic past, I felt represented, and I felt bereaved. This novella also features one of the wildest, most disturbing conclusions to any fiction in my recent memory. I love when a story can make me audibly react, and my hurried reading of those final few pages was full of gasps, what!?s, and disgusted interjections.
The two short stories, “What Shoko Forgets” and “Minute Fears,” address similar real-world issues in a shorter format. Like a lot of contemporary Japanese authors, Fujino is understated in the delivery of her stories’ themes and “morals,” and I know this level of reservation can be hit-or-miss for Western readers. For me, it has almost always been a hit. The two stories did a lot with few pages, and I highlighted many passages of Fujino’s simple-yet-mesmerizing prose throughout both. I especially loved “Minute Fears” — I need the arthouse adaptation of it in theaters yesterday!
Thank you so much to Pushkin Press for providing this ARC through NetGalley.
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