Mieko Kawakami

A boy is obsessed with a woman who sells sandwiches. He goes to the supermarket almost every day, just so he can look at her face. She is beautiful to him, and he calls her "Ms Ice Sandwich", and endlessly draws her portrait

Ms Ice Sandwich

Which is the real Grandma? The Grandma who used to pick me up from nursery school? The Grandma who made me her special veggie meatballs? Breakfast-time Grandma when she dipped her bread in coffee before eating it?

The whole day I don’t really feel like myself (though, to tell the truth, I don’t really know what it means to feel like myself)

New edition of this witty, moving story of adolescent love and loss from the acclaimed, prize- winning author of Breasts and Eggs.

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If you don't see somebody, you end up never seeing them. And there's going to be nothing left of them at all.

People always forget about these little things but I believe that each one stays somewhere deep in everyone's heart, and without noticing it they grow and harden, until one day they cause something terrible to happen. And as I'm thinking about this, I get depressed and now all of these things that I thought I'd done such a good job of drawing begin to fade and grow dull though I haven't even started painting them yet.

Nobody should have to explain what they choose to paint and how they feel about painting it.

This is so nostalgic. A teacher talked about real and fake smiles, and how to tell it apart with the crows feet scrunching. I had to conduct a similar experiment after. Duchenne smile.

On that subject, there used to be time a while ago when I was interested in what part of a person's face tells you whether they're sad or happy, and there's even a saying that the eyes speak like the mouth does, but different of course, so I thought that eyes were supposed to hold some kind of secret, but that turned out to be false, because according to results of my experiments it turns out that eyes don't have those special powers at all. When I look in mirror and cover my mouth and eyebrows with my hands, so that all I can see are my eyes, I can't tell what emotion I'm feeling at all. I try pulling all sorts of faces but you can't tell what kind of face it is from the eyes alone. My conclusion is that when it comes to the face, emotions are seventy percent from eyebrows and thirty percent from the mouth.

Yeah, about movies... Isn't it boring to just sit and watch a whole movie all the way through? I say, and Tutti says, It's really fun, and for a moment her eyes get this kind of twinkly light in them, and I see that black pupils can seem kind of white when they sparkle.

It's such a cute description of having a crush

...without any warning that squishy, yellowy, orangey stuff inside my head becomes extra bright, then that hollow place right under my chin, above my collarbone, feels like it's being squeezed really tightly. It's like that feeling you get when you swallow rice without chewing it properly first. And that lump begins to move from my throat and travel slowly, slowly all the way downwards, until it ends up in a bigger place, a kind of open, roomy space-a place soft lilke a rabbit's ear. And with every breath I take, it begins to grow, it gets longer and wider. I've never seen the middle of the ocean or the edge of the sky, but maybe the kind of breeze that blows in those places now comes blowing in out of nowhere and I feel it wrapped around me. Like when you're holding a cat and you touch its soft belly. Or sticking your finger in a jar of jam and stirring, then slowly sinking in all the rest of your fingers. Or licking the sweet condensed milk at the bottom of your bowl of strawberries. Or when a blanket brushes the top of your feet. Or when butter turns transparent when it melts over your pancakes. As I stand gazing at Ms Ice Sandwich, all of these things are happening to me, one on top of the other, right there in my rabbit's ear. 

Mariana

Such a sweet novella. Easy to read and just so cute.

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Qonita

alexa play 'you're on your own, kid' by taylor swift

Cait🪼

Kawakami truly encompases the tumultuous nature of adolescence. This book handles deeply emotional territory in the most beautiful way. I will always love Kawakami's writing.

I don't know what to feel about this book, really. I just know that I like it.

Throughout the book, I feel like I am being tagged along the adventures of an adolescent boy. His crush, his family matters, his friends, and the awkward feeling he had in between. It's like being thrown into the story and I liked it.

Over all, I enjoyed the ride!

Claudia Sinclair.

Reading this book in one sitting and I can say that this book has given me new insight into loneliness, obsessiveness, and for some part, it feels close to home... Aha. Even still, this book still feels satisfying to read for someone at my age.

jess

It is an enjoyable 2 hour read book! Its about this boy growing up and learning about love and loss. However I dont really feel anything special with this book. Its just a regular book that just doesnt leave a special place in my heart. Nevertheless, still a good book. 3.5 out of 5.

aywen

so charming and endearing, i was giggling the first two pages in. told from the perspective of a 4th grader, kawakami writes in a very stream-of-consciousness style; there are a lot of run-on sentences but i feel the story really benefits from it!! i feel so silly saying that i could completely relate to this naive schoolboy but i was amazed by how many times i laughed and cried in just 92 pages. this will stay with me for a long time

i expected so much from this book but im so disappointed cause i found it so boring 😭😭 honestly only finished it cause its a quick read lmao

Jeremy Wang

a really cleverly voiced portrait of early adolescence! even the exultant, lyrical passages somehow preserve the simplicity of childhood while hinting at some rising conscientiousness and self-awareness. altogether, prompts an interesting question: why do we permit others’ opinions to shape ours? or, why do we even care about normalization. have yet to figure out some of the characters though…

charisa

3.5 rounded up! this novella had absolutely no plot, but was nevertheless charming in its own offbeat way. there's a distinct worldview that only childhood can offer in its innocence and naivety, and kawakami draws from it freely to lighten heavy moments and hint at emerging maturity. most can agree that the tender years of adolescence are full of strangeness and nonsensical infatuations, the sun just about setting on what you might be able to get away with. in this way, the curious behaviors of the characters are just understandable enough.

An amazing book about a boy's first love.

Toto

first love and sandwiches! a refreshing tale of a young boy as he discovers himself tied in the ups and downs of life called growing up.

Stef

Maybe it's my favorite novella that I read this year 😭😭 ~ and if saying goodbye as easy as saying Al Pacino! to your best friend. 


"Because that's what's going to happen. When you say 'see you tomorrow' to someone, it's because you're going to keep seeing them."

I love it. It captured the feeling of being a kid perfectly and it was very nostalgic to see how he observed and reacted to things. There were so many nice moments in this book that resonated as well 💙

Katie Chua

i've realized i love well-done stories from the perspective of children/young teens...right on the cusp of coming-of-age and beginning to understand that the world is larger and more complex place than they originally thought. a touching read

Nikki

“The whole day I don’t really feel like myself (though to tell the truth, I don’t really know what it means to feel like myself).”

This novella really resonated with me.

Jesse

** spoiler alert **
           why did I cry when he gave her the portrait tho

Jemima Scott

This book was such a treat to read - I thought it was so sweet

Shannon M Smith

A coming of age tale in short novella form. It explores a young boy and his pivot from being a child into adolescent. The women in his life are center stage in his life - his ignoring but otherwise content mother, bed-ridden grandmother at a different pivot point in her life, his classmate-friend-action movie buff Tutti, and titular Ms Ice Sandwich, a woman working at a grocery store whose strange beauty seems to only intrigue him. The book moves quickly; personally I wish it was longer. 

Moray Lyle McIntosh

A quiet coming-of-age novella about a young boy infatuated by an aloof woman with bright blue eyelids who works in the local sandwich shop. Half his money goes on his daily visits where he can observe her prickly yet indifferent interactions with her customers. It's a story of young love and feeling like an outsider written in simple, quirky prose well-suited to its length.

Brandon Lee

Worth the hour or so it’ll take you to get through this. It nails the voice of a young narrator, but the simple language never holds it back; there are moments of real poignancy and power.

Ms Ice Sandwich

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