Ashes of Spring
Ordinary Lives at the Start of the Pandemic
by Mieko Kawakami
translated by Hitomi Yoshio and David Boyd
narrated by Sura Siu
Audible Original
I was looking for something to listen to on the plane to Korea when I came across Ashes of Spring. I love Mieko Kawakami and somehow had no idea this collection existed, so I was very happy to find it.
The six stories take place around the beginning of the pandemic in Japan, but the pandemic is mostly happening in the background. People are still dealing with relationships, money, family, loneliness, jealousy, death, and all of the things that were already part of their lives.
Content note: online abuse and suicide.
Six Very Different Stories
The collection covers a lot in a fairly short amount of time.
In “Blue x Blue,” a woman writes a goodbye letter.
“Maybe If You Had a Better Nose” follows a young woman who needs money and considers escorting. She is forced to confront her own insecurities and just how subjective other people’s ideas of beauty can be.
“No Flowers” is about an older woman who is determined to stay spicy until the end.
“Just a Call Away” gets much darker, dealing with online abuse, what people fail to notice, and suicide.
I especially liked “Blue Ink,” a story about the anxiety and heartbreak around a lost letter. It was sweet without feeling overly sentimental.
The final story, “Mothers and Daughters,” looks at jealousy and a complicated relationship between two friends and one of their moms.
Listening to Ashes of Spring
This worked really well for me as an audiobook. The stories are short enough to move through comfortably, and Sura Siu’s narration kept the shifts from one story to the next clear.
Hitomi Yoshio and David Boyd translate the collection, and the English felt consistent throughout even though the stories move between very different characters and situations.
I went into Ashes of Spring expecting something much more focused on the pandemic. Instead, I got six very different stories about people whose lives happened to be unfolding as the world around them was beginning to change.
Worth the listen.
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