A review by beesbumblebooks
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really have a lot of thoughts on this book, but they are complex, and they are confusing, and everything I read come to my thoughts in a haze. A lot of persons said they didn't get the ending. For me it seemed like it just didn't have this one message and one ending, but many strings moving in different directions. I really liked how the author didn't give one answer, but let the characters, who are just finding their way and try to navigate in a cruel world, try themselfs out, try to understand what makes the world the way it is. 
I'm not sure if I find the ending a bit ableist, with the protagonist "fixing" his eye. But for me it had the deeper meaning which in my opinion Kojima was preparing us for: The world is cruel, and you have to keep seeing it to stay kind and do the right thing. But you don't have to suffer to understand. You can help yourself and try to be happy and still be you, and everything you experienced. She didn't want to let go of everyone in bad situations, and I felt that very deeply. And I also felt how she tried to take responsibility with her signs, to make it bearable and to be solidaric. But it showed me that you can be strong and stand up for yourself without losing yourself. Like the protagonist, who found a quite literal way to see beauty, without solving all his other problems, and without seeing where his life will lead. Still in the end I was astonished how Kojima found her own way, and rose from a symbolic to real frightening strentgh. But the price she payed was madness. Oh well.


 Good book anyway. The writing is beautiful, really image-y, even in the german translation. 
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