human relations

Contains thoughts and observations on the novel ‘Suisu, Burn’ by Rin Usami, which won the Akutagawa Prize and was nominated for the Honya Taisho (Bookstore Grand Prize). The action of the beating of a fan by a guesser gives Akari the courage to try and smash her own current unsuccessful life, but in the end, she chooses a cotton swab in the blink of an eye, which is the cheapest way to clean up the mess.

The first sentence of the piece begins, "Convenience stores are filled with sound." Throughout this work, the inorganic nature of convenience stores and the frequent use of the five senses, including the sense of hearing, gave me the feeling that the convenience store was an exciting place to read about.

Although he did not fit in very well in the real world and felt stifled, he was serious and direct about his job as a reviewer and was doing his best to make a living, and he may have been projecting himself into the existence of a night light after ordinary people who fit in well in society, the big light of day, or perhaps he was overthinking it. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but I felt it.

Normal here seems to focus more on two things: working and being productive, and having children for the sake of procreation. The influence of her parents is significant, and Murata-san is aware, even as a child, of the expectations of her children and the imprint of what her parents consider to be normal values, and she probably projects her own discomfort with these expectations into the novel.