Kōno Taeko (1926–2015)

In the title story the narrator transfers her own self-loathing to that of little girls, who disgust her, while she has an overwhelming, borderline demented love for little boys. In another a housewife becomes fascinated with the perverse games of a hunchback and his gorgeous wife.

Little-known Japanese writer Kono's only translation in English is a brilliant and weird collection, written mostly in the 1960s, that captures something of the growing malaise of Japanese society - particularly show more women - at the time, and how it manifested (and of course continues to manifest) itself in deviant behavior. Kono's usually middle-aged, married female protagonists are lonely and emotionally numb and like a strong dose of violence in the bedroom. Emotionally horror stories told with a calm detachment, tales of urban alienation with a surreal, particularly Japanese bent to them. Kono's writing has a strangely beautiful, chilly precision, and this volume alone shows that she was a Japanese writer worthy of further English translation. The back cover of this volume has endorsements by Oe Kenzaburo ("At once the most carnally direct and the most lucidly intelligent woman writing in Japan") and Endo Shusaku.

Mention must also be made of "Full Tide," the sole story where the protagonist is a child. Set in a small town at the war when the girl's father takes her on a walk through the eerily deserted main street (restaurants and amusements all shut due to power conservation dictates of the government) and makes an unexpected revelation, this is one of the great stories I've read about growing up in wartime, though the war remains always on the periphery - and it's the gem of the collection. show less

3.5 stars? These stories are fucked up and I'm sure had I read this in the 60s would have been totally scandalized but the best ones in here are the least sensational, like "Snow," which is great, versus "Toddler-Hunting," which is perverse but also... maybe... boring? :/

First published in 1996, this collection is every bit as contemporary-feeling and feminist as Machado, Bender, Link, except that they're also clearly written by someone who has lived through the war and its aftermath. The titular story "Toddler Hunting" is the most disturbing but each of these stories managed to affect me deeply. Seek this one out--it's well worth your attention.

Might be the most aggressively depressing book I've ever read.