People from My Neighborhood

Author: Hiromi Kawakami
Translated by: Ted Goossen
Pages: 121 – Paperback
Geemiz Rating: 2.8/5

People from My Neighborhood | Book Review

I thought this would be another charming Japanese translation read, but it isn’t—though that doesn’t mean I don’t want to continue reading the book. Since I have two hours to spare on my boat ride from Bohol to Cebu, I might as well continue what I started.

This is my first time reading Hiromi Kawakami, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve heard good things about her writing, especially her book Strange Weather in Tokyo, which many of my bookworm acquaintances have read, but I have yet to get a copy.

The novel consists of multiple interconnected short stories, a format common in recent Japanese literature. What makes this one stand out is that it feels like the narrator is sharing the wildest local gossip, where weird things are normal and normal things are strange. Sometimes I notice metaphors, but I push the thought aside because I don’t want to overthink it.

People from My Neighborhood doesn’t have a deeply surrealistic plot, but the stories from the community are so immersive that by the time I finish the book, it feels as if I’m part of that little community. I feel like I know a lot about the people living there, and I wonder what they might say about me.

In fact, the story is relatable in the sense that, in our own neighborhoods, we hear absurd gossip about our neighbors, and at the same time, there’s irrational gossip about us.

About People from My Neighborhood

People from My Neighborhood is a flash fiction collection of brief, interconnected stories set in a small, unnamed neighborhood in Japan. Each story focuses on a different resident, offering a glimpse into their mundane yet peculiar lives. The stories blend the ordinary with the supernatural and folklore.

You’ll meet various whimsical characters that add charm to the story, like an old man with two shadows that keep fighting each other; a princess with a dubious, murderous past; a young girl manipulating people’s memories; a doctor who insists that some people are hatched from eggs; and many more.

Would I recommend this book to you? It’s a short one, so you might as well get a copy and enjoy it.

Have you read the book? I love to hear what you think!