Heaven
Mieko Kawakami
Synopsis
‘Mieko Kawakami is always ceaselessly growing and evolving.’ – Haruki Murakami
Told through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy subjected to relentless bullying, this is a haunting novel of the threat of violence that can stalk our teenage years.
Instead of putting up resistance, the boy suffers in complete resignation. His sole ally is a girl classmate similarly outcast and similarly preyed upon by the bullies of the school. They meet in secret in the hopes of avoiding any further attention and take solace in each other's company, completely unaware that their relationship has not gone unnoticed by their tormentors . . .
Heaven, Mieko Kawakami’s deceptively simple yet profound work, stands as a testament to her remarkable literary talent. Here she asks us to question the fate of the meek in a society that favours the strong, and the lengths that even children will go in their learned cruelty. Perfect for fans of Édouard Louis, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld or Yoko Ogawa.
In the media
Kawakami's prose is bold, modern, and surprising . . . a supremely confident writer.
An Yu, author of Braised Pork
Already a literary sensation . . . she regularly drops phrases that made me giddy with pleasure.
Katie Kitamura, New York Times
Mieko Kawakami is always ceaselessly growing and evolving
Haruki Murakami
Mieko Kawakami is a writer of rare candour and brilliance.
Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul
