"A Fifth-Grader Lives Inside Every 'Good Man'" [Book Review Project] "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy" by Makoto Shiina

"A fifth-grader lives inside every man" - Hisui

Today is for a book review! The book I chose is "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy" by Makoto Shiina.


Speaking of Makoto Shiina, he is known for his lively essays, cornered-style (lol) science fiction, and short stories that vividly depict the lyricism of adolescence.
What I, Hisui, love are his lively essay-style works.

I love reading about how Shiina-san and his friends run around Japan and the world, building bonfires and fishing on remote islands, or causing a ruckus overseas.

And every time I read them, I think:
"This fun is only possible because it's a group of men."
"If even a single drop of 'girl' were added here, the fun would be halved."
In other words, I think Shiina-san is a person made up 14,872% entirely of 'BOY!!!'


<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡

According to one theory, humans are 'gregarious' creatures.
According to "The Structure of Pleasure" (Kiyoshi Oshima), humans feel comfortable when the three primary instincts born from primitive instincts—'sexual desire, appetite, and gregariousness'—are satisfied.
When I see high school boys forming small groups of 5 or 6,

I think, 'I see, there must be a pleasure in being gregarious.'
The pleasure of being gregarious isn't just the sense of security that comes from belonging to a group.

I think it's that when many personalities collide, the fun doubles through a synergistic effect,

and the concentration of 'silliness' keeps rising.
And boys love high-concentration fun (lol).
They must react quickly to things like the mysterious communal life depicted in "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy" (lol).
<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡


In "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy," the story unfolds by moving freely through the timeline, from the narrator Shiina's high school days to the present, where he has grown up to become a novelist.

The main focus is their communal life in a dirt-cheap, six-mat apartment.
It's a story from when Shiina graduated high school, attended a screenwriting school, and scraped by with part-time jobs.

There was another apartment building right in front of the window, and four male classmates lived in that six-mat room that was dark even during the day. They were all in their early 20s.

Kimura, who holed up like a badger studying for the bar exam.

Isao, the salaryman.
Sawano, who was constantly falling in love and getting dumped, and who drew strange illustrations.
And Shiina.
In a life of poverty that you can only laugh at, they drank, ate, went wild, did stupid things, and yet moved forward one day at a time.

A high-concentration youth that you couldn't find anywhere these days is depicted like a raging torrent.
When I read things like this, I think, 'I wish I could have been a boy, too.'

Because a six-mat room that doesn't get any sun is basically like a secret base for elementary school boys.
A boy's secret base is a sanctuary, you know.

No matter how well they play together, that one place is where every boy will firmly say,
"Sorry, Hisui! No girls allowed past this point!"

It's an important secret base that they declare off-limits.

Must be nice.

I wish I had a secret base, too,
I wish I could have been a boy, just a little bit,
I think that every time I read "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy."

<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡　<゜)))彡



Of course, no man can live in a secret base forever.

Secret bases have an expiration date.
Because there is an expiration date, the fun is doubled.
Amidst an unconscious countdown, time flows in that six-mat room that is dark even during the day (lol), and eventually, changes come to Shiina's life, and the days of the secret base come to an end.
I think that's what it means for a boy to become an adult.

Unlike being born as a 'girl' from the start and growing up as a 'girl',

I feel like there are clear annual rings carved into the growth process of a boy.
In "Fog Falls on the Town of Melancholy," too, they go through various steps and eventually stop being boys.
But.

Men also have parts that don't change.
In the flow of this book, there are parts where the past and present progress in parallel, but the characters of the people involved don't really change in any era.
Kimura-san, who became a lawyer, is still the reliable 'dad' figure.

Sawano-san, the illustrator who has teamed up with Shiina-san for many years, still creates a somewhat strange atmosphere.
That is surely because all the characters have grown into adults while still keeping the tail of a fifth-grader somewhere on their bodies.

This alone is a boy's privilege (lol).
So, let me, Hisui, rephrase it here (lol).



"A fifth-grader lives inside every 'good man'"Hisui.Is there a fifth-grader inside you?

Can't you see the tail of a fifth-grader on the man next to you?
Ah.


You do?
I knew it (lol).


[End]

Reference: "The Structure of Pleasure" by Kiyoshi Oshima

#AutumnReading2022
#FogFallsOnTheTownOfMelancholy

The header is an image from Pexels via Pixabay.

Oh, Hisui is off tomorrow.
Let's meet again on Saturday.