Synopsis
From the bestselling Japanese author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami, comes Heaven, a sharp and illuminating novel about bullying and friendship.
‘Mieko Kawakami is always ceaselessly growing and evolving’ – Haruki Murakami, author of Norwegian Wood
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of the Year.
A fourteen-year-old boy is tormented for having a lazy eye. Instead of resisting, he chooses to suffer in silence. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate, Kojima, who experiences similar treatment at the hands of her bullies.
Providing each other with immeasurable consolation at a time in their lives when they need it most, the two young friends grow closer than ever. But what, ultimately, is the nature of a friendship when your shared bond is terror?
Unflinching yet tender, sharply observed, intimate and multi-layered, this simple yet profound novel stands as yet another dazzling testament to Mieko Kawakami’s uncontainable talent.
‘Mieko Kawakami is a genius’ – Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times
‘An expertly told, deeply unsettling tale of adolescent violence’ – Vogue
Translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd.
Details
10 June 2021
9781509898305Reviews
Mieko Kawakami is always ceaselessly growing and evolving
Taking two outcast teens as its unhappy protagonists, it is an expertly told, deeply unsettling tale of adolescent violence that will, no doubt, only grow the author's fan base
This is the real magic of Heaven, which shows us how to think about morality as an ongoing, dramatic activity.
To read Heaven, by the author of Breasts and Eggs, and newly translated into English from Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd, is to bear witness to an unrelenting horror film of one boy’s youth
