[Empathy Turns Eerie] 'Spring's Scary Things' by Mieko Kawakami | The horror of being confronted with the loneliness within yourself

'Spring's Scary Things' by Mieko Kawakami

Summary

'Spring's Scary Things' by Mieko Kawakami
This work is a collection of short stories set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. It quietly but sharply depicts the unease lurking in everyday life and the fluctuations in the distance between people, leaving a lingering, unsettling feeling deep in your chest even after you finish reading.

Here are three specific points.
1. Through trivial everyday events, it quietly brings to light how the COVID-19 pandemic unknowingly distorted our distance from others and how we face ourselves.
2. In 'Call Me If You Get Lonely,' the narrator's perspective is multi-layered, and the process of realizing one's own inner loneliness and irritation through empathy is depicted in an eerie way.
3. In 'About My Daughter,' the thought process of justifying jealousy as being 'for your own good' is depicted mercilessly, and the way the unpleasant parts of people are revealed one after another is striking.

I felt that now, as daily life is gradually returning, it is worth engaging with this work again. Mieko Kawakami's characteristic delicate psychological depiction leaves a quiet question for the reader.
Please pick it up and feel that lingering effect for yourself.
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Impressions

'Spring's Scary Things' by Mieko Kawakami

'Spring's Scary Things' is a collection of six short stories written against the backdrop of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each story quietly but sharply depicts the unease lurking in daily life and the fluctuations in the distance between people, and they all left me with a lingering, unsettling feeling deep in my chest after finishing them. Among them, the two that left the strongest impression were 'Call Me If You Get Lonely' and 'About My Daughter.'

'Call Me If You Get Lonely' is a work that depicts the sense of confinement during the period when opportunities to meet people were drastically reduced due to the pandemic, using a unique narrative style. It is structured as if another perspective is quietly watching the world that the protagonist, 'you,' is seeing, and at first, I read it while empathizing, thinking, 'I felt this way too.' However, as I read on, the moment I realized that the loneliness and irritation spreading inside 'you' might indeed exist within me as well, the empathy I felt at the beginning suddenly turned into something eerie. I felt that the sensation of being confronted with my own inner self was the eeriness and strength of this work.

Another one that left an impression was 'About My Daughter.' In the relationship between Yoshie, who aims to be a novelist while working multiple part-time jobs, Anna Misuna, who aims to be an actress while receiving support from a wealthy family, and Anna's mother, 'Neko-san,' what stayed with me most was the jealousy Yoshie feels toward Anna and the thought process she uses to justify it. The way the words 'for your own good' are actually revealed to be a cover for self-preservation and dependency is depicted mercilessly, and it made my chest feel uneasy while reading. It felt as if I were reliving the way the unpleasant parts of people are revealed one after another, riding along with the speed of Yoshie's thoughts, and the lingering effect remained with me for a long time after I finished reading.

Reading this collection made me realize once again that the unique situation of the COVID-19 pandemic had unknowingly distorted our sense of distance from others and how we face ourselves. I felt that now, as daily life is gradually returning, it is worth engaging with this work again.
#FinishedReading #BookReview #SpringsScaryThings #MiekoKawakami #ShortStoryCollection #ReadingRecord #ILoveBooks #RecommendedBooks #HumanHeart

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