I need to get my hands on everything Yoko Ogawa has written.
The mastery of this novel/short story collection is impeccable. If you, like me, love interconnected short stories, magical realism, and the macabre, don't sleep on this book. The imagery and characterization is memorable and unique and unsettling, and the lines between fiction and fiction-within-fiction are masterfully blurred. I don't even know how else to praise this novel; I'm just speechless.

Some images that remain in my head: hand carrots, strawberry shortcake, the refrigerator, the collar-brace, the heart bag, the blank manuscript, plucking strands of hair one by one, the museum of torture (yes, really).

Recommended for lovers of the macabre (reminded me most of Chuck Palahniuk's Haunted) who also enjoy musings on loneliness, sadness, loss, grief, and watching lives intersect in strange ways.

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/N3d0uvty-uQ