Yūichi and the bird

Was it hearing? Or sight? He did not remember what the story started with. This is how this enchanting novel begins, which makes us hear and see and smell and feel and be affected... This novel that takes us into the depths of each character, from Yuitchi, the sensitive child, to Ritsuko, the fighting mother, and finally to Johnson, the wounded bird, and makes us become attached to it, empathize with it, and see life through it. After the masterpiece "Tokyo Pleasures," Dorian Sukiagawa tells us once again, with his tender style, the story of an unexpected encounter, a meeting between a humble family and the bird he saved, and takes us into the world of the oppressed, showing us once again the cruelty of our societies, and making us question the meaning of many things like difference, marginalization, preconceptions, solidarity, loyalty, childhood, adulthood, motherhood, nature, the cycle of life, and life itself. It is a wonderful anthem about love, friendship, and life, but also a lesson in life, beautiful and harsh at the same time. And if it has been said about "Tokyo Pleasures" that it is a feast that makes us "laugh, cry, and savor," then "Yuitchi and the Bird" is undoubtedly a flight that makes us "laugh, cry, and be affected." An amazing novel, only Japanese literature can produce such.