An odd cluster of short stories with commentaries on aging, womanhood and the human condition in Japan. Each story has its own beginning and end - pulling the reader through tales of lives in transitional eras.

shout out to netgalley for providing me the arc! this is the first work i have read from the author. a collection of short stories that are bizarre and intriguing. i found myself being confused with the endings of a few short stories, feeling lost at the end but the writing is captivating. some of my fav short stories are the roar, sea horse and kitchen god. glad to say that i did enjoy this collection of short stories!
3.75 rounded to 4 stars

*Recieved an eARC from Netgalley for an honest review. Thank you!

3.4
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It's been awhile since I've picked up Japanese literary fiction, so bare with me as I give my honest thoughts.

Within Dragon Palace, there are eight short stories that touches upon the subject of love, lust, maturing, life in certain spans of time etc. All of these are relatively similar to each other, but they feature different settings and frames each character perspective from a different lens. The absurdity of the worlds and its effects on the protagonist's experiences are heightened by the author's use of magic realism. The author is excellent at making the most mundane parts of these characters' lives feel like a fantastical fever dream, and I always found myself curious at what random event would happen next.

Now, as I appreciate the author's prose, I found it difficult to understand most of these short stories, especially the ones focusing on lust and sex. Dragon Palace was by far the hardest for me to digest. I read it a few times over and in the end, I want to say that its my inexperience with the cultural context or meaning-loss-in-translation that made it difficult to pick up on a distinct message. I admittedly am not the biggest fan of the strong sexual tones in a few of these stories and I did get distracted at times.

There were a few, like The Fox, Shimazaki and Sea Horse, that I believe were excellent in conveying its themes. I loved the concept of human lifespans varying so much that it introduces a situation where some characters lived multiple of our human lifespans, something most of us would likely never understand, yet we know that death can come to any of us at any time. It's a hyperbolic story on the experience of the elderly who live beyond the average lifespan and shows us how they cope with passing time as the people and the world they know leave them behind. This theme was the most cohesive and my favorite.

Overall, I think this collection showcases the author's ability to create fantastical worlds and interesting character relationships. I'd like to try rereading it again in the future to see if I can pick up on the meaning and cultural references some more.

These stories are magical and unreal in the sense that we interpret them in accordance with our normal existence. But Kawakami juxtaposes the dreariness and desolation of the customary life with her magical backgrounds, thereby creating a unique melancholic narrative that mirrors life and muddles the reflection simultaneously.

Hiromi Kawakami never fails to surprise and delight me. Dragon Palace is a collection of short stories around the theme of transformation. The transformations range from moles becoming part of the human world and assisting humans when they become melancholy or, as in Sea Horse, a creature who is captured by a human man and forced to live as his wife before he passes her to another husband and so on until the call of the ocean becomes too much for the sea horse.

I think my favourite story (probably because it was the strangest) was Kitchen God which is about an entity who lives in a woman's home because her attitude is good (not every home can boast a kitchen god). The god is worshipped and bestows it's benevolence on the woman. Strange.

I've been a fan of Japanese literary fiction for a while and there are some names that have me pressing the request button before I know what I'm letting myself in for. Kawakami doesn't stray as far into the visceral as Murata but her use of language and imagination are every bit as diverse.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance review copy.

3.5 rounded to 4

Embark on a mesmerising journey through the realms of the extraordinary in "Dragon Palace," a captivating collection of eight short stories by Hiromi Kawakami. With an exquisite blend of transformation, humor, sensuality, and an unyielding quest for love and beauty, this collection of short stories will transport readers to worlds where the boundaries of time, space, and even species are fluid and transcendent.

I’m a big fan of Kawakami, devouring the pages of everything she writes but as this was a short story collection, not every story was to my taste.

However, in each story, Kawakami unveils a unique masterpiece of imagination, inviting readers to explore the hidden dimensions of existence. One of the most enchanting aspects of this collection is the author's ability to effortlessly blend the mystical with the mundane, imbuing ordinary lives with extraordinary experiences.

The characters that populate these tales are as diverse as the worlds they inhabit. My favourite story being about a shape-shifting con man who dances with deception, making readers question the nature of reality.

Beyond the fantastical, the author delves into the sacred and the profane, as we encounter a kitchen god residing in a woman’s apartment. The juxtaposition of divine beings amidst everyday struggles creates a delightful and intriguing dynamic.

The prose flows like a silken thread, gently weaving together disparate elements of fantasy and reality, dream and wakefulness. Kawakami’s masterful storytelling transports readers effortlessly into these enigmatic worlds, capturing their hearts and imaginations from the first page to the last.

“Dragon Palace" is a literary gem that shines with its unique blend of mysticism, wit, and emotional depth. With each story, the author delivers a profound exploration of the human condition in all its strangeness and splendor. It is a collection that will leave readers both enchanted and enlightened, offering glimpses into the profound truths that underlie the fantastical and the miraculous. This book is a testament to the power of storytelling and a must-read for anyone seeking to venture beyond the boundaries of the known and into the vast realms of the otherworldly. Even if every story isn’t a 5 star read, each comes with its own set of merit and intrigue, all worthy of reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Stone Bridge Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Stone Bridge Press MONKEY for an advanced copy of this collection of short stories dealing with fox faced men, kitchen gods, octopus men and the women he loves and more.

Loneliness is something that transcends language and is probably the one emotion that everyone in the world is familiar with. Loneliness seems something more easily shared and acknowledged, even more than love and hate. I love pizza, I love ironic t-shirts, I love this person and I love my job. One can substitute hate quite easily and not miss a beat. No one has ever said I lonely chocolate cake. There really is no interpretation. From the most crowded of cities to the smallest of villages a person can feel alone surrounded by strangers, family, or even a cat that greets one at the door at night. Loneliness is something that most these narrators in this short story collection feel, and deal with. Maybe this being alone, being apart makes the world different for them, allow them to see the fantastic, the odd and different. And not be afraid to go with these strange creatures to places that others would not. Just looking for a connection. Dragon Palace by Hiromi Kawakami, and translated from the Japanese by Ted Goossen, is a collection of tales about people meeting the fantastic, something that might help them hold on to what they are.

The collection is made up of 8 different stories, all with the theme that the world is much more amazing than the narrators think it is. A man who has left his job and has returned home to his parents house spends the day at the sea wall looking at the horizon. Since returning home he has found talking more and more difficult, and the disappointment from his parents weighs heavy on him. A stranger injects himself into the man's life, asking first if he has money, than saying you can buy me a drink. The man agrees and soon finds himself touring bars, eating fish, chasing literally woman and being told that his new companion is an octopus who has pretended to be human for 200 years. Another story features a mole who works at an office, eats alone because of the disgust that people have watching him eat, who finds sad humans who have become lost in the world. The mole shrinks them down, takes them home, and gives them a new life underground. The other stories feature kitchen gods, divine grandmothers who growl like cats, and ancestors as love interests.

The stories have that I must be missing something aspect to them, until suddenly everything clicks. They might not make sense, but they are definitely conveying an emotion or a feeling. Aging, loneliness, place in society and more. My favorites are the two I wrote about, Mole appearing in Paris Review awhile ago and sticking with me, so was nice to read more by the same author. This is a slim edition, and the eight stories pass by quickly, which might be a good thing, Too much story might confuse, where this hit quick, make one think and move on. However they do stay with the reader, as Mole did with me. The writing is very good and doesn't show any oddness in translation, which can sometimes happen. The narrators all seem distant from themselves, and at the end maybe closer to finding out something about themsleves and the world. I really did enjoy this collection.

Recommended for lovers of weird short stories, especially if one likes Japanese writers or tales. There is a certain bit of Haruki Murakami, and a little bit of Junji Ito, but these are unique to Hiromi Kawakami and well worth reading. A fine collection and a one that can be used to share Japanese writing with people unfamiliar with the form.

This collection of short stories was weird with mystical creatures and their journey into the real world. I found myself confused and unsure of what was going on most times..

A gorgeous short story collection from one of my newly found favourites. Whilst not everything in this collection is a killer; there’s also certainly no filler either.

At just over 150 pages this is a brilliant albeit too short collection that is worth your time.

A collection of eight short stories come together like puzzle pieces painting a vivid picture of characters undergoing major transformation, sometimes subtle sometimes jarring, has a bit of whimsical humor and depth to the characters, intriguing narrators in each story tackle a different theme. Wonderful read!

I’ve enjoyed the author’s novels in the past so I was excited to read this short story collection. It’s a little bit of a mixed bag (as short story collections can be) but I did enjoy it on the whole. The final story, Sea Horse was a great finish to the collection.

This is my first read from Kawakami and there are a few things I enjoyed and a few things I didn’t.

Firstly, I really enjoyed this short story collection as an insight into Kawakami’s mind, I loved her use of imagery and how it allowed me to let my imagination run wild when making my way through these stories. The stories are vivid; each one uniquely different and weird, which made me want to read on. Overall it felt like a cohesive collection of short stories that fit together well.

Whilst I enjoyed a few of the stories (Sea Horse, Fox’s Den and Hokusai being my favourite), for a lot of the other stories I found it hard to interpret what they were supposed to be about or what I was supposed to be taking from them. This may be an issue with my as a reader, as I found some stories just bizarre and slightly difficult to get a grip on.

I’m definitely intrigued by this author and would love to see if there are other books which might be more accessible for a first time reader. However, if you have read Kawakami’s work before and are familiar with her writing, I would recommend picking this book up.

The book revolve around peculiar and remarkable events. These stories showcase non-human characters, such as a mighty great-grandmother endowed with extraordinary powers, an octopus venturing into the human realm. It's akin to a precious treasure chest of narratives that transport you from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Okay so I don’t have too much to say on this collection. This is my first read from Hiromi and I was kinda disappointed. The writing was great, it wasn’t that at all. I actually think the writing is the reason I was able to finish this collection. But the contents of the stories lost me. I didn’t understand any of them, which I attribute more to a cultural issue where some aspects did not translate well into another cultural perception and some stories just being super bizarre to the point that I didn’t understand what it was about. Maybe if you’ve read other books by this author the content might be more digestible but I think I’d recommend trying out one of her other books first if not.

I definitely want to try one of her other books just because I did really enjoy the writing.

A night out with a shape-shifting sea creature, the history of a goddess and great-grandmother, a relationship with an elderly man and fox-spirit, the yearning for love from an ancestor hundreds of years old, reverence for a three-faced kitchen god, an office-working mole providing an underground sanctuary to humans, a boy's life with his extraordinary sisters taking on the many roles of women, a sea horse passed from husband to husband with a distant memory of the sea.

This is a beautifully written collection of short stories that sweep the reader along into strange realities. Introducing the reader to animals and gods I was drawn to consider humanity in all its flaws. What it means to be young, old, living, dying, longing, loving, at peace or unease. Some of the stories gets too close to awful experiences and others keep us at a distance. It is both reflective and creepy.

At least, this is what I took from the short stories. The meaning isn't spelled out and I think depending on where you are at you might take different meaning of the various twists and turns of the stories.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this eARC.

It has been awhile since I read Japanese Literature and this is my first book from Hiromi Kawakami.
There were 8 short stories and some I had difficulty in interpreting or don't know what to make off of it.

Out of these 8 stories, my fav would be Hokusai, The Kitchen's God and Seahorse.

This book is mostly about grief, loss, mystery and there were cultural references for each chapters.

Oh well, maybe I wasn't in the right mind when picking up this book.

Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC!
Dragon Palace is a thoughtful and surprisingly tender exploration of mortality and what it means to be human. Immersing yourself in this world is like taking a trip to a surrealist fever dream that is expertly brought together by a cohesiveness that rings through each story and brims over with a fond sadness you just have to lean into.
While Mole and Fox's Den stood out to me the most, this collection is beautifully pieced together and is an absolute treat as a whole. Whether Kawakami has managed to outdo her previous hits or not remains to be seen, but Dragon Palace certainly makes for a unique reading experience. 3.5/5

A collection of eight stories rooted in the tradition of Magical Realism, this book will appeal to readers that enjoy a bit of mystery and mysticism. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this one of a kind collection.

Thank You, Netgalley and Stone Bridge Press for the e-Galley.

Japanese short stories and novellas are one of my favourite type of books, they are always interesting, well written and slightly off centre which i enjoy immensely. And Hiromi Kawakami wrote some of the first japanese translations I read.
However, I struggled a little with The Dragon Palace...I am not sure if it was the way it was written, or translated, or if I just wasn't in the right head space for it but I had a hard time figuring out what was going on in some stories. The story I liked best was Hokusai, it was funny and a little ridiculous which made it absolutely brilliant.
Hokusai was 5 stars out of 5
The whole book 3.5 stars out of 5

I didn't dislike this collection of short stories, but I didn't particularly enjoy them either. It was a very neutral yet confusing experience. The first story 'Hokusai' about the origin of the 'The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife' painting was quite unique and probably my favourite. However, I struggled to discern meaning in the rest of the bizzare stories which may be down to cultural differences. That being said, I enjoy the bizareness of Murakami for example but mainly becasue I can still interpret some meaning from it. The main themes involved sex, gods and animals. I've seen a few other reviews saying that you might fair better if you've first read other works by Hiromi Kawakami. Overall, unfortunately I don't think I'd recommend this to a friend. But I thank NetGalley for the copy and will definitely check out more of her work regardless.