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A review by oleanderwillow
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I don't know if I liked this book. The writing is beautiful and descriptive which I really loved and appreciated, but I don't think I understood the point of it? Maybe it was too philosophical for me. After reading reviews it is apparently the author's take on nihilism but I'm not sure. Definitely is dark, upsetting, and uncomfortable and has deeply, deeply messed up characters for one reason or another, so be aware of that. I'll leave you with a few of my favourite passages.
"In the reds and greens of the canvases, maidens danced with animals, a goat or something carried a violin in its mouth, and a man and a woman embraced under a gigantic blazing bouquet. This swarm of unrelated images was like a glimpse into a dream. But not a good one. The joy I saw there was ferocious, and the sadness suffocatingly cold." (pg 37)
"We'll understand some things while we're alive and some after we die. But it doesn't really matter when it happens. What matters is that all the pain and all the sadness have meaning." (pg 62)
"Halfway across, I looked up at the building I was passing. It stood there like the weathered bones of some enormous creature. The platform in the middle of the field was crooked, with flaking paint, like some partially digested section of the skeleton." (pg 75)
"If anything has meaning, everything does. And if nothing has meaning, nothing does." (pg 157)
"In the reds and greens of the canvases, maidens danced with animals, a goat or something carried a violin in its mouth, and a man and a woman embraced under a gigantic blazing bouquet. This swarm of unrelated images was like a glimpse into a dream. But not a good one. The joy I saw there was ferocious, and the sadness suffocatingly cold." (pg 37)
"We'll understand some things while we're alive and some after we die. But it doesn't really matter when it happens. What matters is that all the pain and all the sadness have meaning." (pg 62)
"Halfway across, I looked up at the building I was passing. It stood there like the weathered bones of some enormous creature. The platform in the middle of the field was crooked, with flaking paint, like some partially digested section of the skeleton." (pg 75)
"If anything has meaning, everything does. And if nothing has meaning, nothing does." (pg 157)