compilation of eight strange and unnerving tales that investigate the human mind and issues of gender, sexuality, and metamorphosis. Although Kawakami's prose is minimal and exact, she is nonetheless able to conjure up a world that is both familiar and foreign, one in which the lines between reality and fiction are hazy.
Although the stories in Dragon Palace are frequently gloomy and upsetting, they are also filled with a dry sense of humor and an intimate knowledge of human nature. Although Kawakami's characters frequently have flaws and go through hardships, they are also tenacious and resourceful. Even though they are changed by life's absurdities, they manage to deal with them.

The capacity of Kawakami's writing to combine the real with the magical is one of its most striking features. A man is transformed into a woman in one tale, and a woman is taken over by a fox spirit in another. However, these changes are not viewed as shocking or dramatic. Kawakami, however, use them to delve deeper into questions of identity, gender, and desire.
The use of humor in Kawakami's literature is another noteworthy feature. Even in her most terrible tales, Kawakami manages to incorporate humor and brightness. This makes her stories more appealing and approachable while yet pushing us to consider the world in fresh ways.

I think I've loved everything by Hiromi Kawakami. 'Dragon Palace' is a fantastic collection of short stories that combine reality and fantasy in the way that the author is known for. As someone who loves folklore and re-tellings of traditional tales I found a lot to love in this collection and will definitely be re-visiting it again at a more leisurely pace.

Recently read this collection of short stories by Japanese author Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Ted Goossen. I can see myself wanting to read it again, if only to absorb more of its fleeting yet lingering impressions. It’s a very fluid collection, thematically and also in how it seems to move languidly from one to the next in a much vibes less plot sort of way. The water imagery that threads through a number of stories adds to the effect, the stories that begin and end the collection drawing on connections to the ocean. The collection’s title takes it further, referencing the dragon palace in the depths of the sea, summoning otherworldly creatures based on mythic tales and folklore that inhabit many of the stories in the book.

I don’t think you need to know these per se, I certainly didn’t, but it’s still enjoyable to just be lulled along by the currents of each story. There is a sense of otherness in these stories, a yearning for something missing, a sense of belonging perhaps located somewhere in ancestral stories of the past or in some uncertain future we are headed towards. Somewhere amidst these pantheon of deities and the grind of today, the spirit is depleted, space made for new ones, forgetting a way of life lived before, despairing of the floating world it has become disconnected from. For women it is a double-edged sword, the self-alienation that can come from an expectation to adhere to gender roles, losing the self in becoming wives and mothers instead of pursuing pure pleasure.

I quite enjoyed her writing style, the prose and imagery, personification of phenomena and emotion that provide a sense of surreality, only exaggerated by drawing from and calling forth a gathering of supernatural creatures and deities that once lived. Placing them in settings that otherwise feel familiar heightens the lurking suspicion that life in the now can itself feel so unreal at times. It’s the essence of a queer collection, constantly shape-shifting and busting boundaries between time, bodies, gender, the material and spirit worlds, the natural and supernatural, how we can feel Other in the spaces we inhabit.

Different stories stood out to me for different reasons, some for the unsettling plot device, some for the atmosphere, some for the feeling it stoked in me. I loved the first story, for an introduction to what I might expect from the stories that follow, the layers folded into it, of ukiyo-e as an ode to a time of pleasure, the story itself an ode to an artwork symbolising a sensual life and closer connection to the natural world as depicted by a renowned artist, of the power of transformation and self-determination.
At the same time, the focus on women being reduced to bodies for this purpose was itself unsettling, and a product of the time this reader is from, which speaks to how stories don’t form in isolation, but are rooted in context.
In the original Hokusai image, the depicted fisherman’s wife is supposedly a shell diver possibly based on the story of Tamatori, a woman who marries into the Fujiwara clan and vows to regain their lost pearl, once stolen by Ryūjin, the dragon god of the sea. As she dives to his undersea dragon palace, she is pursued by his sea creatures, including the octopi, before succeeding in rescuing the stolen pearl. A story of female courage and ingenuity. The stories in the collection similarly are those that might come across as eyebrow-raising through today’s lenses, but are transformed when contextualised in the settings they belong.

I loved the final story, like a taking back of the reins, a remembering, a full circle moment, a self slipping back to the place they come from.
▫️”The smell of the sea envelops me. I can feel my forelegs and my hindlegs sprouting muscles and my torso thickening. My neck is growing longer; a thick mane sprouts from my head. I am a sea horse once again, swimming the seas. I pass the moored fishing boats and race toward the horizon, gaining momentum as I go.
Days and nights pass as I speed along. When I reach the northern reaches of the ocean, I can picture my fourth child swimming ahead. Her laughter rings in my ears. On and on I run. To that point in the ocean where day and night come to an end.”

I remember rereading the first few pages because of how beautiful I found the description. It starts out very atmospheric, ominous, and slowly goes into Magical Surrealism. I had heard great things about this author and this collection of short stories proved that they deserved all that hype.

Folk lore and fairytales are a recurring theme with the stories, drawing from a wide range of sources from Buddhism and Shintò. There's a lot of symbolism used to depict ongoing situations in the story which was executed perfectly.

This was my first read from this author but I would love to read more of her work.

Dragon Palace was my first experience with Kawakami's work and I am intrigued to try some other items in her oeuvre. While wonderfully weird with interesting thematic and cultural touchpoints, this collection was not a perfect match for me--I'm unsure whether that has to do with the stories' construction (some left me wanting for *something* more than what we got) or the translation, or a combination of both, but I respect what Kawakami has done here. Thanks to the publishers for allowing me to read this early copy!

A strangely compelling collection of short stories with lots of bizarre elements. Kitchen gods, transformations (from octopus to human, human to sea horse), strange relationships, a mole that collects depressed humans….. yes it’s a bit weird but it reads like all the situations are perfectly normal so magical realism I guess. Very enjoyable.

This book was definitely a WILD ride. From breastfeeding gods to miniature humans living in mole holes, this is a collection that can bewilder others more than not; but its one of the books that felt to me, after looking through the surface of the story, the insights and what Kawakami intended to write with each story was just sad.

Edited on 19th September 2023

Picking up Dragon Palace was.... something else entirely. It left me gobsmacked, shell-shocked and some stories even made me disassociate with myself for a bit. Its a collection of short stories that is written in Kawakami's usual style that made something that was totally out of this world felt normal. Its an exploration of folklores, mythologies - with the central with aging and what it is to be human.

"Unable to live, unable to die, they're just there, eating away at their surroundings. Eating away at themselves. That is who they are.


This collection of 8 short stories might not appeal to everyone, but for me, I felt that, each story has its own deeper meaning in ways that might not sit right by us. Kawakami takes elements from Shinto and Buddhism in these stories and intertwines them with folklores in the Japanese culture that makes everything that is bizarre a symbol of what the story actually holds. Yes, there are stories of Kitchen Gods, and mole people, and seahorse turned human; and even with the outlandish tales that Kawakami wrote, the central theme of aging, questions of patriarchy, sex and mostly of being human that makes the essence of each story more alive than some.

These are some of my thoughts for each individual stories :-

Story 1: Hokusai
Personal Ratings : 4🌟

"Being' human is painful. I wish I could go back to bein' an octopus. But I can't. When water is spilled, it's gone - you can't put it back in the pot."


A man who claimed to be an octopus and based on the philosophies from the infamous painting of Hokusai. The story is both witty and absurd, and the gallivanting ways of the old man was definitely amusing, but I also liked how its a story of resilience. The nature of humans is that we tend to give up easily when things go hard, and the adaptability of the octopus is somewhat as a reminder that abling to adapt will lead you to live a somewhat normal life.

Story 2: Dragon Palace
Personal Ratings : 4.25🌟

"I lived knowing nothing and died knowing nothing."


This story had gotten me saying WTF in so many languages, but I think, I just felt sad overall. Its heavily inspired by the folklore and how the consequences from cults had led to an innocent woman being held as a hostage, a sex slave and then somewhat becoming the goddess as her own. Definitely not for everyone but I was left mortified but also a bit sad overall.

Story 3: Fox's Den
Personal Ratings : 3.75🌟

The more I read the stories; laced with the weirdness and quirkiness, is the backstories of the Gods and folklore. This one was witty.

Story 4: Kitchen's God
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟

One of my favs from this collection. It reminded me a lot of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and the stories of a person who is somewhat stuck in the past and of memories that are uncertain.

"Was I happy? I had never given that question a thought."


Story 5: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟

Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.

Story 6: Mole People
Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟

Also one of my favs. Its bleak and a social commentary of how humans and people are so accustomed to being one thing in their lives that made them miserable overall. The story of aging, growing and how at the end they became only puppets of capitalism. Its a tale of folklore derived from Mujina and this story had showed it in a form that is almost simplistic.

Story 7: Sea Horse
Personal Ratings : 4.75🌟

of motherhood, womenhood and something more that exceeds than a normal person's expectations. I loved it and was lowkey sad for the story.

Overall, the short stories in here are wilder than most, and it is definitely not for everyone, but I for one enjoyed this one a lot. It centres around old age and how humans are at the end just very vulnerable beings but also strong and resilient in their own ways. Recommended for those who needed something different in your TBR. Its definitely a memorable one.

Biggest thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

This author has the heart of story telling and a free spirit of adventure and make believe.

What on the face of it appear nonsensical stories are quite engaging and thoroughly believable. Using magical scenarios with often animals engaging in the human world. The tales have a degree a familiarity and loosely based on relationships we can identify with as the dialogue between the characters is realistic and absorbing.

I really enjoy the fact that each story is immersed into Japanese life and culture. You feel a sense of place even though the world glimpsed has a diversity of animal interactions or realms of fantasy.

8 short stories to lose yourself in and regret when they end.

If you're in a slump, this is the book for you. As usual, Kawakami's writing is compulsively readable and delightfully strange. Each story explores humanity, masterfully oscillating between the mundanity of life and a creative blend of traditional and fantastical elements that lead you through the entire spectrum of emotion.

My favorites were The Kitchen God, Mole, and Hokusai.

The first story, Hokusai was so weird but also a little interesting. It's just that an octopus transforming into a man because it likes women, seems not so alright in my head.

"Waves flash white as they crash against the rocks on the shore. I try to look at each wave as separate and distinct, but there comes a moment when they merge - each resembles the one that came before, while the one that follows is no different".

This story titled, Dragon Palace, is so strange and also sort of creepy. People seem to believe that the great-grandmother of the narrator, Ito, has these special sacred powers. I did not read anything about this book and it was just because of the title. Well, certainly it's nothing to do with dragons.

*Weasels and white clouds by night*.
Badgers and black clouds by day*.

*Dragon Palace* by Hiromi Kawakami.

I really liked the style of the previous books by this author, and really like short stories so I was looking forward to reading this collection.
For me this book went too much into the territory of absurd, and that often got me out of the story.
I enjoyed the opposition of the opening and the closing story, about how the perceived gender of the transforming entity will effect their agency, and I am sure there were other commentary in the stories, but most it went over my head.

Kawakami is a brilliant writer and I've enjoyed most of her novels. In this collection of her stories, Kawakami writes beautifully but I didn't really like the speculative element of the stories, just too strange for me. Probably just a personal preference as she writes superbly as usual.

I confess to struggling through this book, as I’m not a fan of the grotesque. The ghosts were fine, as were the shapeshifters, gods and near-immortals, and ancestors. Even the octopus man right at the beginning was fascinating at first. What I couldn’t deal with was the abuse of women, and (cw) sexual assault. These themes are by no means all the collection’s about, but they recur enough to have put me off.

This is not to say I didn’t like the book at all; Japanese surrealism is a genre I enjoy, and I enjoyed those elements here. Mole, about a mole that rescues people who appear to have lost the will to live, is my favourite story from the collection. The Sea Horse and The Kitchen God are tied for second place; but, again, unfortunately, those themes rear their (ugly) heads in those stories too.

While I can appreciate the use of shocking imagery for effect, this collection is unfortunately not for me for the reasons stated above. However, perhaps other readers may find it appealing.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and to Stone Bridge Press for access.

There’s something watery and elusive about this collection that is tantalizing. Each story shapeshifts in obscene and uncanny ways. I never felt that Hiromi Kawakami was “showing her work,” to the reader. I detected no trace of a “see what I did there?” The effortless flow is also thanks to an excellent translation.

It’s what I had hoped Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung would be. Sadly, I think the translation in that case fell far short of the hype. I haven’t read any of Kawakami’s other works, but many are on my TBR. I’ll be bumping those up in the queue now.

I received an advance digital copy from NetGalley and Stone Bridge Press in exchange for an honest review.

Such an entertaining read, I loved the themes in the story! I love Hiromi Kawakami's works, she's so talented and her writing style is so distinct but pleasing to consume. I’m excited to read other works that she has already released and any upcoming works that she plans on releasing soon. I’ve recently been reading a lot of short stories and I am really happy to say that Dragon Palace was one of the short story collections I have read because of how distinct and unique it is from the other short stories I got through. Overall, an amazing read by Hiromi Kawakami!

I had high, high hopes for this but just couldn't get past the second and third stories.

Very interesting and weird concepts which is normally my absolute favourite but I found the writing style really tricky and struggled to keep up with the storyline.

Dragon Palace is a collection of eight weird tales that will leave you pleasantly baffled or uncomfortable. I was not a fan of all the stories, which is typical for any short story collection. My favorite story is The Kitchen God, and my least favorite is, unfortunately, the one carrying the name of the collection - Dragon Palace. I will write short synopses for all eight stories and give individual ratings.

Hokusai
A depressed man meets an alleged octopus turned human, and they go bar hopping. The story is named after a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from the turn of the 19th century (Edo period), Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai's two iconic prints inspired this story: The Great Wave off Kanagawa and The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. I liked the imagery in the story and the theme of metamorphosis. 4 stars
Dragon Palace
This story is about a conversation between a woman and her great-great-grandmother Ito. When she was young, Ito had a prophetic dream that transformed her into a sex-obsessed goddess whose words enchant people. This story made me uncomfortable, and I failed to grasp the point of it. Kawakami utilizes repetition of a specific phrase (could be anaphora) to bring attention to the main character's inner struggle. Is Ito simply telling her life's story, or is she attempting something else? Dragon Palace has vivid imagery, and it would work well as a manga. Junji Ito would do a splendid job of adapting this story. Sadly, 2 stars.
Foxs Den
Caregiver falls in love with the fox-faced man she takes care of. Once again, the central theme is humans transforming into animals. This story comments on how many people have something animal-like about them, whether in their appearance or behavior. 3 stars
The Kitchen God
A woman discovers a three-faced kitchen God living in her kitchen. He scuttles around her apartment, and she feeds him. Whenever she needs to ignore her troubling thoughts, she prays to him. This story was cute and wholesome but also bizarre. I cannot explain why it appealed to me as much as it did. 5 stars
Mole
A couple of moles, husband and wife, live in an underground hole and collect humans in one of the rooms. Husband mole has an office job, and humans report to him about potential broken humans he can pick up and carry home. This story struck me as a metaphor for depression. There is nothing sinister going on. The moles observe the sleepy humans and occasionally talk to them. I adored this story and its cyclical structure. You follow a day and a night in a mole's life like a mole vlog. Maybe I have a soft spot for anthropomorphized animals. 5 stars
The Roar
A nameless boy lives with each of his strange and strikingly different seven older sisters. I do not have a comment for this story. It went over my head like a comet. Perhaps there is an underlying religious theme, but I am not sure. 2.5 stars
Shimazaki
A 100-year-old woman falls in love with her 400-year-old ancestor. This story felt like an incestuous prototype for Kawakami's novel Strange Weather in Tokyo. Two older protagonists develop a complex relationship. They become close as they spend a lot of time together, but there is an insurmountable emotional gap between them. She wishes he was more affectionate, and he claims she does not love him the way he loves her. It is a slow slice-of-life story. 3 stars
Sea Horse
A woman who used to be a sea horse describes how she left the ocean, her life on land, and her mistreatment by her many husbands. She has four children with her current husband. The fourth child is a girl, different from her brothers because she is similar to her mother. The daughter has an intense desire to spend the rest of her life in the ocean. This was a sad story. The woman's life made me sad, and I sincerely hoped she would get a happy ending. 5 stars

Sea Horse perfectly rounds off the collection thematically. Once again, the central theme is transformation and its consequences. When comparing the first story about an octopus-man and the last story about the sea horse-woman, I notice the striking, but not surprising, difference between the characters. Octopus man has agency. He actively pursues his goal and accomplishes his missions. On the other hand, after she arrived on land, the sea horse woman ended up chained and passed from husband to husband. She had no freedom, no autonomy. Dragon Palace was an odd collection of fantastical stories about themes with deeply human roots. I hoped I would enjoy it more, but some stories were not my brand of weird. Ted Goossen did a marvelous job translating these meaningful but strange tales.
Thank you Netgalley for the review copy!

I was able to get a taste of Hiromi Kawakami's writing through reading "Strange Weather in Tokyo," and I felt neutral about it. Although heavily different in their themes, "Dragon Palace" made me feel the same.

Eight short stories, all under the influence of eccentricity, might seem nonsensical on the surface, but they're just real-world problems coated with magical realism. I've never had issues with feeling like a fish out of water while reading translated lit before. But for this one, I think even with the privilege of a translation, there's still a wall blocking me from fully connecting with these stories, as they are rooted in Japanese folklore.

The last story, Sea Horse, would have to be my favorite. The ocean, the longing for home, a mother-daughter relationship—it's the Holy Trinity.

ARC provided by Stone Bridge Press under NetGalley. To be released on September 19!

These are some of the strangest stories there’s one about a man who used to be an octopus, one about a girl who dreamed of Buddha became a god herself and many many more let me reiterate these are some of the strangest stories I have read in a long time. I do want to say the title story dragon palace has a ménage à trois with a 14-year-old needless to say I was not thrilled with that one I also like the way the stories are told in a conversational way as if the person in the story is telling you the story but it seems much more personal than just saying it’s right in first person and with the exception of the pedophilia these stories are weird and oh so deliciously good! I really enjoyed this collection of stories and have you been looking for more books by the author I thoroughly enjoyed this I want to thank Stonebridge Press and NetGalley for the great free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This is a collection of 8 short stories - They definitely all lean heavily towards magical realism, quite bizarre and the reading experience feels like a fever dream. I have read Hiromi Kawakami before and enjoyed Strange Weather in Tokyo, which I would recommend over this.
However I do believe Kawakami has very imaginative and creative ideas , her books always feel unique even if I didn't know what was going on most of the time.
Thank You to Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the e-arc.