Asian Fiction

What a year it has been.

I haven't posted any reviews in months, not that I still wasn't reading ferociously and posting my reviews on Goodreads, but I certainly neglected my tiny blog. I started studying full time and worked another 20 hours a week, which didn't leave much time for anything else. However, I'm finally back with some Asian literary fiction reviews:

Those four books are arranged from least favorite on the left to favorite on the right hand side.

Miss Chopsticks by Xinran

I found this in a thrift shop for a couple of dollars and wanted to try out this author. Unfortunately the translation between Chinese and English will always miss something and it was just an okay read. Very simple language and the fact that the sisters were named after numbers and having to continuously read them was a bit annoying. I was aware of naming children like this before I picked up this book, as this is quite common in Asia (I lived in Cambodia for 5 years and in rural areas they did name their children by weekdays, months or other).

The story is about bout three sisters that escape the countryside poverty to make it in the city, showing their father and family that girls can be "roofbeams" too (to support the family) and not just easily breakable "chopsticks", hence the name of the book.

3 out of 5 coffee cups

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

I have previously read Convenience Store Woman by the same author and was intrigued. I do love me some good Japanese literary fiction and this must have been the weirdest book I picked up in 2020 and I know this will stick with me for a while in the back of my mind. I'm also pretty sure that I will pick up her next book, although these stories are not "favorites".

The author writes mostly about societal norms and what it means to live outside those boundaries.
It's hard to read at times due to content about sexual and verbal abuse of children, mental health issues, murder and cannibalism.
It certainly packs a punch.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 out of 5 coffee cups

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Breasts and eggs is one of those books that's going to linger as well.

It's literally about all the topics that women in our society are confronted with: fertility, pregnancy, periods and menopause, being childless, marriage and financial problems, wanting it all (family and career), gender questions, plastic surgery, body shaming, sperm banks, adoption, postpartum depression, being a single parent and more.

There's so much to discuss and unpack. It was written so that our main character either confronted those issues herself or any other women in her family or vicinity. This book would be perfect for any book club and I can highly recommend this to anybody who's interested in the above topics listed.

Thank you Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

5 out of 5 coffee cups

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan

Cover me impressed. I was supposed to pick up Rainbirds way before I read the author's new novel.

This is a great work of quiet and thoughtful Japanese fiction. If you do like Murakami, you should pick this one up. I won't say much more about the story. I went in blind and never regretted it.

5 out of 5 coffee cups

Thanks again to Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.