I’ve had the weirdest experience happen to me. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Hiromi Kawakami (author of *Strange weather in Tokyo* and *The Nakano thrift shop*), which is an author I love. I’ve been reading a couple of her novels that have not been translated to English (I also like to read in French and Italian), which are quite different from *Strange weather* and *Nakano*, with their very marked supernatural overtones, but still narrated it a very light and delicate way.
I recently came across a collection of short stories (*dolcemente soffocante* in Italian, *gently oppressive* as I would translate it, the original title is なめらかで熱くて甘苦しくて, something like smooth, warm and bittersweet). I don’t want to spoil the text, but the second story talks about grief. It uses so few words, but it has so many topics that resounded with me in this moment of my life, such as attraction, sex, loneliness, death, but also helplessness in the face of life and nihilism.
I was reading on the train, and I’ve never had such a strong, visceral reaction. I couldn’t stop my tears and I had to hide in my seat. I couldn’t touch the book for two days. Now It’s been three days and I’m still quite shaken and I can’t put my hand on why. I figured I’m grieving too for this story, for some characters which are just outlined, and I can’t shake off these feelings which are so strong.
This has never happened to me. Yes, I’ve been touched when reading and I did feel strong emotions, but not this, not to this degree. It is in a way truly gently oppressive. I’ve read lots of different literature in various languages, but I’ve never felt this, this visceral suffocating emotion that I cannot explain.
I would like to know if anybody experienced this. I’ve been truly shaken.
by OhMyItsColdToday