Pan McMillan, 2022
167 p.
ISBN 978-1-5098-9825-1
Post hau ingelesez dago.
The summer break is over and Donostia Book Club meetings are back! On September, 9th we are going to talk about Heaven by Mieko Kawakami. It’s a short novel with an approachable style but very serious topic: bullying.
Heaven is told through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy, a victim of bullying. We see how the situation affects his whole life and also how he slowly makes his first and only friend, a girl in a similar situation. The tension, the constant threat of violence and some really brutal and bloody descriptions are some of the trigger warnings that need to be mentioned. It’s a difficult story to digest, written in a direct and simple style. Yet it has some moments of beauty, some heart-warming descriptions and reflections.
This book was Kawakami’s first full-length novel in Japanese and it was translated (by Sam Bett and David Boyd) and published in English in 2021. It was later shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize and the judges described it as: ‘An intense, claustrophobic novel, Heaven uses its tale of middle school bullying to enact Nietzsche’s critique of morality. The power of Sam Bett and David Boyd’s translation lies in its ability to communicate both Mieko Kawakami’s abstract, philosophical ideas and her harrowing human drama.’
Here are some questions (suggested by the National Centre of Writing) to ponder after reading Heaven:
We never learn the narrator’s real name – only his cruel nickname, Eyes. What does this mean for our relationship to him as the protagonist of the book? What sense do you have of Eyes’ character, and how does his point of view affect the telling of the story?
What are the strengths and constraints of writing a teenaged narrator? Why do you think Mieko Kawakami has chosen a younger narrator for this story?
Does a story being about teenaged characters automatically make it a “young adult” book?
Adult characters in the story are characterised by their absence – Eyes’ father is rarely home, his teachers never acknowledge or intervene in the bullying he experiences, and even his step-mother seems oddly detached. Why might this be? How does the absence of adult characters play out in the novel?
Eyes has an extraordinary conversation with Momose, one of the bullies, when they bump into each other at the hospital. This scene stages one of the ethical questions of the book – why are some people bullied, and other people bullies? What is your reaction to Momose’s theory on this point? Does the rest of the story prove him right, or prove him wrong? Why do you think Eyes confronts Momose about the bullying rather than the ringleader, Ninomiya?
Eyes, and we as the reader, never see the painting that Kojima describes as “heaven”. What effect does it have that the book takes its title from something that doesn’t have a physical presence in the story?
The end of the book sees Eyes electing to make a change to his life. How do you feel about this ending? Do you think Eyes made the right choice?