A lovely, charming, and surprisingly touching story from Hiromi Kawakami, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I had no idea this was actually a companion novel to Strange Weather in Tokyo until I read the Goodreads description, but I think this could be read as a stand-alone.
I love how Kawakami subverted my expectations with this story - I went into it thinking it would be about one thing, and then she went into a different direction which I completely appreciated.
I’m excited to read Strange Weather in Tokyo and more Kawakami in the future!