A dream-like spell of a novel, full of humour, sadness, warmth and tremendous subtlety. I read this in one sitting and I think it will haunt me for a long time -- Amy Sackville Enchanting, moving and funny in equal measure, this compelling love story is expertly crafted against a backdrop of modern Japanese culture... I [ was] captivated... Stylish and unsentimental, a perfect love story * Stylist **** * I'm hooked... It's interesting enough to read about an aging woman drawn to an older man; when this attraction comes wrapped up in Japanese nostalgia for old fashioned inns, mushroom hunting, refined manners, and Basho, how can a person resist? I can only imagine what wizardry must have gone into Allison Markin Powell's translation -- Lorin Stein * Paris Review * Kawakami transforms an affecting cross-generational romance into an exquisite poem of time and mutability.... Delicate and haunting -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * This short, quirky love story has a very distinctive, very Japanese sensibility... Allison Markin Powell's translation is clear and graceful -- Brandon Robshaw * Independent on Sunday ***** * A subtle and haunting portrait... Kawakami's prose is warm and often humorous. Allison Markin Powell's masterful translation conveys a deceptively effortless, understated delicacy and dream-like tone. Often enchanting but ultimately heart-breaking, this is an unforgettable evocation of love and loneliness -- Alev Adil, Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Judge Kawakami paints perfectly the lightness and delicacy of modern Tokyo, delivering a love story that breaks hearts * Monocle * An elegiac sense of speeding time, and yawning distance, drizzles the story - sensitively translated by Allison Markin Powell - with a sweet sadness -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * In quiet, nature-infused prose that stresses both characters' solitude, Kawakami subtly captures the cyclic patterns of loneliness while weighing the definition of love * Booklist * Expertly translated by Allison Markin Powell, this is a beautifully understated love story, a novel of sadness, longing and gentle humour * A Life in Books blog * A book of breathtaking delicacy * Télérama * One of the most beautiful love stories I have read in all my life... Read it and enjoy * La Vanguardia * In equal measures profound and exhilarating * Westdeutsche Zeitung * Charming and understated... acutely observed and surprisingly involving. A delicious read * Hull Daily Mail * A charming, understated story, played out against Japan's seasonal extremes. Acutely observed, it's a delicious read * Gloucestershire Echo * Beautifully written * Farmlane Books * A beautifully-written and moving novel, expertly and sensitively translated by Allison Markin Powell * January in Japan blog * Kawakami crafts an eerie inter-generational romance -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * An extraordinary novella... It is gentle, wise and written in such a hypnotic style it casts a spell upon the reader. Deeply haunting and strangely moving -- Kim Forrester * Reading Matters blog * As well as being a sweet love story and an exploration of loneliness, [ it] is packed with nostalgic Japanese atmosphere * Bath Life * A funny, ethereal and above all heartfelt love story * Freight Books blog * A quiet and understated novel... Highly recommended for fans of quirky and contemporary translated fiction or Japanese culture * A Little Blog of Books * True love is celebrated with humour, grace and pathos as the wary narrator recalls her unusual approach to dealing with an overwhelming passion -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times * Beautifully written... It has a dreamlike quality and left me with a great love for the characters -- Judith Ayles * Newbooks Magazine *
