Kaori Fujino’s Nails and Eyes is a collection of one novella and two short stories that straddle the line of disturbing. The title story, Nails and Eyes, is narrated by a three year old girl who despises woman destined to become her stepmom after the tragic death of her own mother on their apartment balcony. The young girl observes her father’s girlfriend with intense acuity, seeing beyond what the woman presents to the world. In the second story, What Shoko Forgets, an elderly woman in assisted living is seemingly assaulted every night, only to forget it again come morning. The last tale, Minute Fears, is about a mother attempting to assuage her son’s terrors of the neighborhood playground.

While I generally enjoyed these stories, Fujino leaves a lot to the reader’s interpretation and perception. I often wondered if I was missing something or if I had perceived the contents of the story correctly, getting out of it what I was supposed to. This left me with a less than satisfied feeling after reading this collection.