People From My Neighbourhood: Hiromi Kawakami

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Thus, we all live together as a large family. Even though we live in different houses, our hearts are bounded by the same love and respect for each other. People from My Neighborhood isn’t a conventional book of linked short stories, and it is the relationships between each story that make the collection pop. Each story flows into the next, linked, not by a narrative arc, but by a common theme shared with the story that follows it. In “The Crooner”, the neighborhood plots to get rid of a vicious dog. Next, “The School Principal”, an unemployed man in his mid-fifties, assumes command of the neighborhood’s canines. The story that follows is about another directionless, middle-aged adult. The continuity between these tales is all the more remarkable because these stories are collected from already-published work. It is almost as though the compilation, rather than the narrative, is using stream-of-consciousness.

People From My Neighbourhood | Granta People From My Neighbourhood | Granta

Absolutely loved it, found myself trying to figure out if there were profound meanings or if Hiromi Kawakami was just writing fictional observations for her own enjoyment. I liked that she was genuinely documenting observations of different people and events in the neighbourhood. At face value, that could be it! Think everything or think nothing. She said it’s People From My Neighbourhood- and that’s what it is!

A collection of 36 very short stories set in a small town in Japan. Eccentric, bizarre, enchanting, each tale is interconnected and weaves together to form a fantastical world. Underneath these bizarre stories are themes of identity, place and community. Of what makes us human and finding beauty in the small things that the spaces we inhabit provide. The absurdity of some of the stories is grounding. The oddities of people, and what they do to extract meaning from a meaningless life.

People from My Neighborhood - Soft Skull Press People from My Neighborhood - Soft Skull Press

Very interesting and revealing. We will be recommending it to our investors and buying clients alike— James Edwards ( @JamesEdwardsPA)Best of all, our service is completely free - just enter a postcode above to find your information. As the volume progresses, Kawakami moves further into the territory of magical realism. “Weightless” is a striking example of Kawakami’s surreal storytelling and delicious sense of irony: