Kazushige Abe

A fast-paced, darkly ironic novella from one of Japan’s contemporary luminaries (and the husband of Mieko Kawakami), making his English language debut. Perfect for fans of Earthlings by Sayaka Murata and Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs. Isolated in his Tokyo apartment, 17-year-old Haruo spends all his time online, researching the plight of the endangered Japanese crested ibis, Nipponia Nippon. Living on an allowance from his parents, he drops ever further into a fantasy world in which he alone shares a special connection with the last of these noble birds, held at a conservation centre on the island of Sado. His conclusion is simple: it is his destiny to free the birds from a society that does not appreciate them, by whatever means necessary. With his emotional state becoming ever more erratic, he begins sourcing weapons and preparing for a reckoning in this darkly ironic study of toxic masculinity.