Why read Heaven?

Book cover of Heaven

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE

“A raw, painful, and tender portrait of adolescent misery… This book is very likely to make you cry.”—Lily Meyer, NPR

With profound tenderness and sensitivity, Japanese literary superstar Mieko Kawakami turns her unique gaze onto the causes and effects of violence. Raw but…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Heaven as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Donovan Miyasaki

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Thanks to its love/hate relationship with Western individualism, Japanese literature boasts the most sophisticated examples of the Nietzschean novel. This book's simple story about school bullying is really a philosophical meditation on friendship, courage, and meaning.

The bully shares the contradictions of the stereotypical “overman,” declaring his right to immorality and feigning indifference while seeking others’ approval. His victim, in turn, mirrors “slave morality,” nursing bitterness rather than finding his own path.

However, this predictable setup is upended by Kojima, a schoolgirl who takes defiant pride in her outcast status. Exploding the simplistic dichotomies of pop-Nietzsche, Kojima combines the inner…

From Donovan's list on Japanese novels that illuminate Nietzsche’s philosophy (or distort it in illuminating ways!).