Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami

I hope everyone is having a good or okay-ish day. For me, it is probably the latter.

I started the Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami and I’m very excited about it. I have been planning to read her books for a long time now. Especially since I laid my eyes upon ‘People From My Neighbourhood’ and ‘Strange Weather in Tokyo’, from which ‘People From My Neighbourhood’ was also translated by Ted Goosen. As a huge admirer of Japanese literature, I could not miss out on the opportunity when I received an email that I could read it through NetGalley if l wished to do so. So here l am jumping into my next reading journey through the unknown. 

‘Dragon Palace’ is a collection of eight stories each unique and abstract on its own. By reading the synopsis posted by Stone Bridge Press one could say that if you liked ‘Cursed Bunny’ by the author: Bora Chung then probably you are in safe hands with Hiromi Kawakami too.

Short Review:

There are 8 short stories in this magical collection. Each of them has its own atmosphere and unique characters. Each story has something to offer to the reader if the reader is willing to listen.

 These short stories are packed with mythical fantastical elements and animal-human creatures which kept the interest through the whole time. On the other hand, these stories also offer a generous amount of food for the philosophical mind as well let it be the women’s place in this world or more importantly: where women put themselves in the world of a man. Self-exploration: Does the individual know the individual at all? What does that even mean? Maybe the best way to stay sane is to lose it all. All the reasoning and logic and the calculative way of life just keep you trapped in your head by constantly pushing you to think. Maybe sometimes losing the marbles and rolling with them is the only positive thing you can do in this life. Maybe sometimes it is necessary.

These short stories were more than just fun imagined worlds of mystery and mythology. They push the reader to broaden their horizon to think deeper or completely differently from their usual pattern. It awes and dawns. It makes the reader think about themselves, about humans and their fragility/ego. I just loved everything about it. 

My only warning would be that if you are a reader feeling uneasy to read about sex or to read about people talking about it then you might need to approach these stories with a tidy bit of caution. In my case, I think it fitted perfectly well with the magical mythological elements as they usually intertwined with creation.

Dragon Palace made me fall in love with Hiromi Kawakami’s world and work. I hope she will bring us many more in the future.