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A review by lauren_endnotes
The Little House by Kyōko Nakajima
"Once cracks open in your feelings for someone, they will never return to the way they were before."
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From THE LITTLE HOUSE by Kyoko Nakajima, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, 2010/2019.
#JanuaryinJapan
Taki, a woman in her twilight days, looks back at her life. She composes a series of journal entries for her nephew, reminiscences of a woman from northern Japan who moves to Tokyo to enter domestic service. She describes meeting her new employer, a young widow who along with her baby, is contemplating a new match. They marry, and move into the "little house", a landmark of sorts in its western style in 1930s Tokyo.
This is an intensely domestic novel - as in it takes place almost entirely in between the walls of the eponymous "Little House", following the daily rituals of Taki's caretaking for the "Mistress" and the "Young Master".
Moving between 1930/40s Tokyo and modern day, this story includes Taki's memories, and her own conversations with Takashi, her great nephew, in present day. There's some intriguing notes to mine here: Takashi questions her regularly about the beginning of the War, the political and militaristic landscape of early Shōwa Japan, but this was not Taki's world and she offers very little insights at that level. Her's was a small world, noting the subtlety of day to day, and the deep devotion and love for her employer family.
I liked the quietness of THE LITTLE HOUSE. Witnessing the lives of people far from the front lines in this period. I liked the perspective shifts in the latter half of the story and the meta-ness in the final sections.
.
From THE LITTLE HOUSE by Kyoko Nakajima, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, 2010/2019.
#JanuaryinJapan
Taki, a woman in her twilight days, looks back at her life. She composes a series of journal entries for her nephew, reminiscences of a woman from northern Japan who moves to Tokyo to enter domestic service. She describes meeting her new employer, a young widow who along with her baby, is contemplating a new match. They marry, and move into the "little house", a landmark of sorts in its western style in 1930s Tokyo.
This is an intensely domestic novel - as in it takes place almost entirely in between the walls of the eponymous "Little House", following the daily rituals of Taki's caretaking for the "Mistress" and the "Young Master".
Moving between 1930/40s Tokyo and modern day, this story includes Taki's memories, and her own conversations with Takashi, her great nephew, in present day. There's some intriguing notes to mine here: Takashi questions her regularly about the beginning of the War, the political and militaristic landscape of early Shōwa Japan, but this was not Taki's world and she offers very little insights at that level. Her's was a small world, noting the subtlety of day to day, and the deep devotion and love for her employer family.
I liked the quietness of THE LITTLE HOUSE. Witnessing the lives of people far from the front lines in this period. I liked the perspective shifts in the latter half of the story and the meta-ness in the final sections.