There are 4 sections/stories in this book. 
 
If I had only read the first three, my blissfully ignorant self would have written a review along the following lines:
 
''Some books are able to nourish and fill your soul, and this one certainly did. 
 
As warming and gentle as a cup of coffee on a cold winter's day.''
 
But after the final story Kawaguchi can truly fuck off. 
 
A MAN writing that a woman would willingly sacrifice her life just to give birth?? This woman was CHRONICALLY ill. She knew the second she learned she was pregnant that carrying the baby to term would kill her. Yet apparently that was her dream in life??
 
And not only that, but we are expected to view this as a GOOD, dare I say noble thing to do??! It’s so goddamn selfish. You leave a child without a mother causing extreme heartache in their life, force the dad to be a single father while dealing with the grief of losing his wife who CHOSE death over staying with him, and put the burden of looking after the child on other friends and wider family. And the fact that it is a cis-man writing this just compounds the issue even further. 
 
After processing this last story, I then realised the undercurrent throughout the entire book of women being expected to self-sacrifice to serve others in their life. They were never allowed to follow their own path, or if they did it ended in death. If this was written by a woman, or if the male characters were also self-sacrificing, it would be a different matter. But OF COURSE, it’s only the female characters who have to suffer.
 
It is not that hard to treat women with respect. Men need to grow the fuck up.