Ms Ice Sandwich

February 15, 2018

Fourth grader he may be, but our narrator is quite the sharp observer of his surroundings. His father is dead; his mother runs a "fortune-telling and that kind of stuff" salon. She's often the recipient of his unguarded bluntness: "If video games make you stupid, then what do mobile phones make you?" The pair live with his paternal grandma who, despite her silent immobility, is his closest companion. Family aside, the eponymous Ms Ice Sandwich is the one person who gives him "that feeling you get when you swallow rice without chewing it properly first"--and that's a good thing. Naming her for her position behind the sandwich counter at the local store, he can contentedly stare at her "great big eyes" enhanced by her "ice-blue eyelids." And then he overhears three girls in his class dismiss his beloved as "such a freak," triggering unexpected, disturbing reactions that require a rebalance of his young life. Japan-based Kawai translates Kawakami's whimsical novella into British English as part of the London-based indie publisher's Japanese novella series. VERDICT Described as Haruki Murakami's "favorite young novelist," Kawakami is destined to charm Anglophone audiences as well.--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A small boy forms an attachment to a supermarket employee in this quiet Japanese novella. The unnamed fourth grade protagonist lives with his mother and paternal grandmother; his father died years earlier. Fascinated by the woman he nicknames Ms Ice Sandwich, whose "eyelids are always painted with a thick layer of a kind of electric blue," he buys egg sandwiches from her as often as he can. Overhearing derogatory comments about her botched cosmetic surgery, he struggles to understand how others fail to find her as intriguing and attractive as he does. His ailing grandmother, a source of unconditional love, is bedridden, and her pension helps support them, something he finds vaguely discomfiting. The boy has two friends who also don't fit in: video game-obsessed Doo-Wop, and Tutti-Frutti, who lives alone with her father (her mother is deceased). The novel is a series of exquisite, vividly rendered observations seen through the innocent eyes of a bright, observant child. When he sees Ms Ice Sandwich, the feeling is like "when a blanket brushes the top of your feet. Or when butter turns transparent when it melts over your pancakes." This charming story, best appreciated by contemplative readers, contains vignettes that will linger long after the last page is turned. Deceptive in its simplicity, this is a jewel of a book. (Fiction. 12-adult)

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