Review By Harsimran Kaur
Rating: 4/5
Do we create our own heaven or hell?
Or, turbulences in life forge a spearhead to cut the brassy shield that protects us, leaving us disillusioned about life and its inveterate compilations of good and bad. And, this very debilitating persual becomes the reason for our existence.
What happens next are unappetizing demurs turning into confrontations or the soggy-soppy self becoming a subservient homage to the temporal renditions of life. All this is eloquently conveyed in the book “Heaven” written by Mieko Kawakami; inspiring the self that pain and suffering are concomitant to life’s emollient adventures and obliging them is the strength of a weak mind, grieving at the faltering image of the self.
The story is about two precious people who appreciate their unviable belongingness to self but conspicuously find succor in their validations of circumstantial existence. A 14 year old boy suffering from “Lazy eye” is tormented and bullied brutally for reasons affiliated to his perceptions; what he thinks is a manifestation of he receives from life and not what he desires. His dejection is contemporaneously adjoined by a female friend, Kojima, who too is a harbinger of impertinent inflictions as if her Spartan clothing and disheveled hair are pre-occupations of imbecile minds around. They exchange letters; for grief is best elucidated in words pressed close to the maneuver of a pen, and thus forms a bond of inexplicable trust and warmth.
They search for heaven which resides in us as a confirmation to our strengths and weaknesses. Our perceptions and reasoning to carry forward life gives us a sheltering carapsse to rebuke off the unsolicited pedigree of intemperate minds. Both of them do the same, albeit in the realm of their insecurities and fear. How fear turns them into disillusioned minds insipidly washing away what torments them makes “Heaven” a very touching and compassionate story.
TAKE AWAY
Inseparable are the souls whose minds are inclusive of similar simulacrum of life’s anomalies. They are connected due to reasons unknowable to people around them. The marvel to bring forth such characters by “Mieko Kawakami” is simply breathtaking.
The book translates their emotional upheavals and capriciousness with fastidiousness and close-to-life interpretations.