"How can a person resist"-TheParis Review
Stories from a Japanese master of transformative fiction,where reality,myth,and human foibles meet shifting dimensions of gender,biology,and destiny.
From the bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo comes this otherworldly collection of eight stories,each a masterpiece of transformation,infused with humor,sex,and the universal search for love and beauty-in a world where the laws of time and space,and even species boundaries,don't apply. Meet a shape-shifting con man,a goddess who uses sex to control her followers,an elderly man possessed by a fox spirit,a woman who falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor,a kitchen god with three faces in a weasel-infested apartment block,moles who provide underground sanctuary for humans who have lost the will to live,a man nurtured through life by his seven extraordinary sisters,and a woman who is handed from husband to husband until she is finally able to return to the sea.
Publisher: Stone Bridge PressISBN: 9781737625377Number of pages: 168Dimensions: 203 x 127 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"Spirits,animals,and people cohabit the universe of these eight stories,which capture with quirky insight and deadpan humor the strangeness of human relationships."
-The New Yorker
"Hiromi Kawakami returns to a world of fluid transfiguration with supernatural strangeness and knowing humor."
-Thu-Huong Ha,The Japan Times
"Unsettling and provocative... prominent Japanese writer Kawakami and lauded Canadian professor-translator Goossen reprise their successful collaboration forPeople from My Neighborhoodwith another addictively strange collection."
-Terry Hong,Booklist
"An absurdist take on the human psyche."
-Walter Sim,The Straits Times
"Dragon Palacefeatures eight surreal,emotionally affecting stories set in a world where the mystical and mundane rub elbows."
-Jaclyn Fulwood,Shelf Awareness
"A short story collection tied together by an atmosphere of legends and metamorphosis."
-Richard Medhurst,Nippon.com
"Dragon Palaceshowcases Kawakami's knack for blending folklore and surrealism into modern day social politics and life experience."
-Books and Bao
"Unique and attention-grabbing,Dragon Palaceis a collection of open-ended fantasy tales about thwarted love and lost opportunities."
-Eileen Gonzalez,Foreword Reviews
"A vivid,disturbing collection"
-M.A.Orthofer,The Complete Review
"Exceedingly unique... Kawakami melds the mundane and banal with the surreal and fantastic,to good effect."
-Cameron Bassindale,The Japan Society Review
"A fascinating collection of oddities in which some stories are humorous and accessible while others are more poetic and surreal."
-Contemporary Japanese Literature
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