Name: Parade
Rating: 3.7 (25 reviews)
ISBN: 9781593765804

Hiromi Kawakami

A brief, disquieting companion to the bestselling Strange Weather in Tokyo, set during a summer afternoon and featuring a mischievous pair of creatures called tengu

Parade

Maureen

Reminiscent of Tsukiko and Sensei’s quiet conversations from Strange Weather in Tokyo.

jess

Within a single breath, I finished this book. Subtitled “a folktale,” Parade, a short companion piece to Strange Weather in Tokyo, is exactly that – a whispered tale shared between lovers. Crisp and clear, like the breeze on a warm spring day, Hiromi Kawakami’s prose shines, pulling the reader into a moment of nostalgia bordering on confession when Sensei urges Tsukiko: “Tell me a story from long ago.”
Adorned with pale-toned imagery – soft, abstract drawings and patterned illustrations by Takako Yoshitomi that establish a gentle, soothing ambiance – Parade is an ode to memory and imagination, drawing from Japanese tradition in tengu, creatures with a history of chaotic influence. Considered guardians, tengu have roots in both spectrums of morality – a feature of their kind that is present in the mysterious, dual-toned creatures that appear at Tsukiko’s side one night as a child.
Initially reminiscent of the imaginary friend conjured by loneliness – an ideology that would perfectly match present-day Tsukiko, who gravitated toward Sensei in Strange Weather in Tokyo because the two were able to enjoy quiet solitude – the tengu, which remain unnamed, seem to reflect Tsukiko’s moral compass, all the while, acting as confidants. From hiding poor test grades to ostracizing a classmate for no reason aside from peer pressure, Kawakami reflects on the inner turmoil of childhood through the pale-faced tengu, who urges Tsukiko to right her wrongs, even falling ill when a classmate is emotionally abused by the collective group of students.
Described, in the afterward, as “a memento of a story that has ended,” Parade captures the hazy nature of memory alongside the innocence and naivety of childhood. Nostalgic and warm, Kawakami’s latest offers a fragmentary glimpse at easy companionship – a different take on love in that Tsukiko and Sensei are simply comfortable living in each other’s sphere of influence.
The ability to grasp and ponder the symbolic meaning of a seemingly normal sentence is the pure essence of japanese lit. This less-than-100-page short story, served its purpose whilst warming the hearts of every readers out there.

"A parable about memory, mythic characters, and confessional regrets . . . An ethereal, resonating literary gift" (Booklist, starred review) from the internationally bestselling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo. "On a summer afternoon, Tsukiko and her former high school teacher have prepared and eaten somen noodles together. “Tell me a story from long ago,” Sensei says. “I wasn’t alive long ago,” Tsukiko says, “but should I tell you a story from when I was little?” “Please do,” Sensei replies, and so Tsukiko tells him that, when she was a child, she awakened one day to find something with a pale red face and something with a dark red face in her room, arguing with each other. They had human bodies, long noses, and wings. They were tengu, creatures that appear in Japanese folktales. The tengu attach themselves to Tsukiko and begin to follow her everywhere. Where did they come from and why are they here? And what other invisible and unacknowledged forces are acting upon Tsukiko’s seemingly peaceful world?"

A Folktale

erin

Just a weird little tale. Liked it, but not overwhelmingly so.

I think Kawakami is gonna be come one of my favorites. This story was distant yet personal and the afterword is worth considering in the grand scheme of stories.

Parade

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