Mieko Kawakami

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city where it is not easy to form new relationships, she has little regular contact with anyone other than her editor, Hijiri, a woman of the same age but with a very different disposition. When Fuyuko stops one day on a Tokyo street and notices her reflection in a storefront window, what she sees is a drab, awkward, and spiritless woman who has lacked the strength to change her life and decides to do something about it. As the long overdue change occurs, however, painful episodes from Fuyuko’s past surface and her behavior slips further and further beyond the pale. All the Lovers in the Night is acute and insightful, entertaining and engaging; it will make readers laugh, and it will make them cry, but it will also remind them, as only the best books do, that sometimes the pain is worth it.

Challenging every preconception about storytelling and prose style, mixing wry humor and riveting emotional depth, Kawakami is today one of Japan’s most important and best-selling writers. She exploded onto the cultural scene first as a musician, then as a poet and popular blogger, and is now an award-winning novelist. Breasts and Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the thirty-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with growing up. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and frustrations. On another hot summer’s day ten years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.

A Irie Fuyuko l’amicizia non viene naturale. A circa trent’anni di età, lavora come redattrice e vive sola. Le interazioni più frequenti che ha sono con la sua referente, Hijiri, una donna dall’indole molto diversa e le cui motivazioni sono spesso poco chiare. Un giorno Fuyuko si vede riflessa nel vetro di una finestra – la donna che ricambia il suo sguardo è pallida e misera. Decide così di imparare a non essere più quella che è di solito ma, non appena inizia a provarci, eventi del passato cominciano a riaffiorare, e il suo isolamento appare sempre più irreversibile e completo. Gli amanti della notte è una porta spalancata sul peculiare mondo di Mieko Kawakami, autrice di best seller acclamata a livello internazionale. Arguto, spesso divertente ed estremamente coinvolgente, Gli amanti della notte scava nella complessità dei rapporti umani raccontando la storia di una donna che non ne ha nessuno. È un libro sul mondo del lavoro, sulle sue vicissitudini e le sue gioie, e sui modi in cui il passato insiste nel dare forma al futuro. Irie Fuyuko è una protagonista indimenticabile, la cui difficile condizione apparirà familiare a molti. Una storia che spezzerà il cuore dei lettori, ma ricorderà loro anche che a volte vale la pena di soffrire.

Hailed as a bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami’s novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student who subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, the boy chooses to suffer in complete resignation. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands of her tormentors. These raw and realistic portrayals of bullying are counterbalanced by textured exposition of the philosophical and religious debates concerning violence to which the weak are subjected. Kawakami's simple yet profound new work stands as a dazzling testament to her literary talent. There can be little doubt that it has cemented her reputation as one of the most important young authors working to expand the boundaries of contemporary Japanese literature.

People believe, Marie thinks, even when there’s no proof. You believe because you imagine. But is imagination enough to live by?

A quixotic and funny tale about first love – from the Akutagawa Prize-winning author. Ms Ice Sandwich seems to lack social graces, but our young narrator is totally smitten with her. He is in awe of her aloofness, her skill at slipping sandwiches into bags, and, most electric of all, her ice-blue eyelids. Every day he is drawn to the supermarket just to watch her in action. But life has a way of interfering – there is his mother, forever distracted, who can tell the fortunes of women; his grandmother, silently dying, who listens to his heart; and his classmate, Tutti, no stranger to pain, who shares her private thrilling world with him. Tender, warm, yet unsentimental, Ms Ice Sandwich is a story about new starts, parents who have departed, and the importance of saying goodbye.

En un sofocante día de verano, Makiko viaja a Tokio a visitar a su hermana Natsu. Incapaz de aceptar los cambios de su cuerpo después de dar a luz, Makiko está obsesiona con la perspectiva de someterse a una cirugía de aumento de senos. Mientras tanto, su hija Midoriko, de doce años, vive paralizada por el miedo a la pubertad que se aproxima y se siente incapaz de expresarse más allá de a través de una libreta. Por su parte, Natsu tiene treinta años, es aspirante a escritora y lucha con su propia identidad indeterminada de no ser ni una "hija" ni una "madre”. Reunidas en un barrio de clase trabajadora en Tokio, pasarán juntas unos días en los que el silencio de Midoriko será un catalizador para que confronten sus miedos, muchos de ellos impuestos en gran medida por ser mujer en la sociedad actual, y sus secretos familiares. Apadrinada por Haruki Murakami y Elena Ferrante, Mieko Kawakami se ha convertido en un fenómeno literario internacional y combina en estas páginas comedia y realismo para pintar un retrato de la feminidad de la clase trabajadora contemporánea.

Fuyuko Irie seorang introver penyendiri. Setelah lulus SMA dia pindah ke Tokyo untuk berkuliah lalu bekerja. Di tempat kerja itulah ketidakcakapannya dalam bergaul—sekadar bertukar sapa dengan orang lain pun dia kesulitan—mulai terasa membuatnya terkucil seolah benar-benar seorang diri di dunia. Akan tetapi ia lantas bertemu dua orang yang membuka kemungkinan persahabatan dan cinta meski tidak mudah. Segala Kekasih Tengah Malam adalah kisah perempuan modern yang berusaha jujur dan menjadi diri sendiri.

Sfidando ogni preconcetto sulla narrazione e sullo stile della prosa, "Seni e uova" dipinge un ritratto unico della femminilità nel Giappone contemporaneo. Mieko Kawakami racconta i viaggi intimi di tre donne mentre affrontano costumi oppressivi e incertezze sulla strada da intraprendere per scegliere liberamente il proprio futuro e realizzare il proprio benessere interiore. Le tre protagoniste hanno un legame familiare: la protagonista trentenne Natsu, sua sorella maggiore Makiko, e la figlia di Makiko, Midoriko. Nel libro primo Makiko va a Tokyo alla ricerca di una clinica in cui possa mettere delle protesi al seno a prezzi accessibili. È accompagnata da Midoriko, che non parla con la madre da sei mesi, incapace di accettare i cambiamenti del suo corpo di adolescente e sconvolta dal desiderio della madre di modificare il proprio seno volontariamente. Il suo silenzio si rivela fondamentale per permettere alle due donne di affrontare paure e frustrazioni. Nel libro secondo, ambientato dieci anni dopo, in un’altra calda giornata estiva, Natsu, diventata ormai una scrittrice affermata, ritorna nella sua Osaka. È ossessionata dall'idea di invecchiare da sola e inizia il percorso per diventare madre, in una clinica specializzata, scontrandosi con i pregiudizi della società giapponese e i problemi legali e fisici legati alla fecondazione assistita. I temi femministi, la prosa surreale e i personaggi meravigliosi trascendono le barriere culturali e incantano.

十七歳の夏、親もとを出て「黄色い家」に集った少女たちは、生きていくためにカード犯罪の出し子というシノギに手を染める。危ういバランスで成り立っていた共同生活は、ある女性の死をきっかけに瓦解し……。人はなぜ罪を犯すのか。世界が注目する作家が初めて挑む、圧巻のクライム・サスペンス。

Wszyscy zakochani nocą to ostra i wnikliwa, zabawna i urzekająca powieść inspirowana prozą Murakamiego i przywołująca na myśl Mój rok relaksu i odpoczynku Ottessy Moshfegh. To głęboko poruszająca i wnikliwa historia, której akcja rozgrywa się we współczesnym Tokio. Kolejna książka Mieko Kawakami, autorki bestsellerów Haeven oraz Piersi i jajeczka, nominowanej do Międzynarodowej Nagrody Bookera i uznanej przez Harukiego Murakamiego za najważniejszą współczesną pisarkę japońską. Kawakami wraca do tematów, które interesowały ją już w poprzednich książkach: feminizm, samotne matki, zależność finansowa, sukces i wykluczenie społeczne kobiet. Z drugiej strony to zupełnie inny rodzaj prozy – powieść o uczuciach, zakochaniu, z wyjątkową główną bohaterką, która dopiero jako dojrzała osoba dowiaduje się, czym jest miłość, a czytelnik z ciekawością śledzi jej losy, niecierpliwie czekając na kulminację. Jak to często bywa w książkach Kawakami – aż do ostatniej strony nie wiadomo, jak zakończy się historia. Co to znaczy być kobietą we współczesnej Japonii Fuyuko jest niezależną korektorką. Ma trzydzieści cztery lata i całkowicie poświęca się pracy, wyszukując najdrobniejsze błędy w tekście. Nad jej zleceniami czuwa przebojowa Hijiri i w zasadzie to jedyna osoba, z którą Fuyuko utrzymuje kontakt. W lustrzanym odbiciu staje twarzą w twarz ze zmęczoną i pozbawioną ducha kobietą, której nie udało się przejąć kontroli nad własnym życiem. Chciałaby coś zmienić, ale nie wie jak. Alkohol pozwala jej uwolnić się od samej siebie. Punktem zwrotnym okazuje się przypadkowe spotkanie mężczyzny, który opowiada jej o pięknie światła, muzyki klasycznej i widzi w niej coś, czego nikt inny wcześniej nie zauważył.

みんな遠くへ行ってしまう。本当の自分を知っているのにね――。四年ぶりの長篇小説! 麦彦とヘガティー、思春期直前の二人が、脆くはかない殻のようなイノセンスを抱えて全力で走り抜ける。この不条理に満ちた世界を――。サンドイッチ売り場の奇妙な女性、まだ見ぬ家族……さまざまな〈あこがれ〉の対象を持ちながら必死で生きる少年少女のぎりぎりのユートピアを繊細かつ強靭無比な筆力で描き尽くす感動作。

35歳ではじめての出産。それは試練の始まりだった！　芥川賞作家の川上未映子さんは、2011年にやはり芥川賞作家の阿部和重さんと結婚、翌年、男児を出産しました。つわり、マタニティー・ブルー、出生前検査を受けるべきかどうか、心とからだに訪れる激しい変化、そして分娩後の壮絶な苦しみ……。これから産む人、すでに産んだ人、そして生もうかどうか迷っている人とその家族に贈る、号泣と爆笑の出産・育児エッセイ！