Ms Ice Sandwich (Japanese Novellas)

The simplicity of the book and the story is what hooks you in. It doesn’t start with a bang but grows on you gradually. It’s a book that makes you a little sad and a little happy. There is loneliness and pain, but there is also love, friendship, bonding, and the little things that make life worth living. The naivety of youth and the exhilaration of attraction (if you can call it that, the narrator seems to be every bit confused about it) makes for a heartwarming read. Just like Ms Ice Sandwich, our young narrator too is a bit socially awkward, never knowing what to say and how to behave. He doesn’t fit in, always managing to get by just okay.

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Louise Heal Kawai, marks my introduction to Japanese literature, and it’s a delightful start. Narrated from the perspective of a ten-year-old boy, the story explores his quiet infatuation with a woman he calls "Ms Ice Sandwich" and his growing friendship with his classmate, Tutti. Remarkably, neither the boy nor the woman is named, yet the narrative feels universal and deeply personal. The novella beautifully captures childhood innocence, family dynamics, and tender emotions without ever feeling vulgar. Kawakami’s understated prose evokes warmth and nostalgia, making this a perfect read for anyone exploring Japanese literature or looking for something light yet moving to escape a reading slump.

Book: Ms Ice Sandwich by Miko Kawakami Genre: Romance Rated: Suitable For All Ages Synopsis: Ms Ice Sandwich by Miko Kawakami revolves around an unknown narrator who's at his third or fourth grade obsessed with a woman who sells sandwiches and nicknames her as Ms Ice Sandwich. Review: Ms Ice Sandwich by Miko Kawakami is a different and yet beautiful plot. Adding an adult feelings into a young narrator which he is almost 9 or 10 year boy might be a loophole but the construction of plot and the way story moves tends to forget the logic and made to stay focused on the story. Positives: 📖 : Excellent quality of storytelling 📖 : A clarity in plot construction Negatives: 📖 : Paraphrasing lags the story length 📖: Some dialogues aren't much connected or identifying the speaker of it a kind of a hard job Overall: Ms Ice Sandwich by Miko Kawakami is a fresh, warming fiction that can be read once.

Life as seen from the eyes of babes might just be my favourite kind of stories. We underestimate how much children see and understand and how life sometimes deals them the same blows that we struggle to deal with even as adults - loneliness, loss, grief. Narrated in stream of consciousness fashion in the voice of a fourth grader, Ms Ice Sandwich is about first love and friendship, and also about the grace, whimsy and resilience of children who are never taught to say goodbye, but must learn anyway.

One of the best (and worth it) short reads for me. I did not understand what is going till 7-9 pages, but once I got connected to the main little character, it was hard to put it down, and it got progressively awesome (not just better). The main character is a boy in 4th standard who has an innocent crush on a woman who he calls Ms. Ice Sandwich because her eyes are blue like ice-sandwich. However, as you read ahead, you see other parts of his life, from his perspective, and it breaks you and mends you, all at the same time. The innocence of the perspective of a child, his feelings, the way he feels as he is getting exposed to different sides of society, the sheer pressure of growing up, not fitting in, holding on and letting go, it doesn’t hit you only on a mental level, but strikes you strongly on an emotional level. I am 24 and I still feel like a child in many areas of my life, and our little boy worded how vulnerable I feel in ways I could never word my emotions. I cried with him. I felt like I took a step in healing with him. I loved him, and all the other people in his life. This book is perfection and no one should miss out on reading it, especially if growing up feels hard for you.

This book has been called a coming-of-age story. I think it’s about the birth of an artist. The boy becomes obsessed with a young lady who sells sandwiches at the supermarket — because of her huge eye lined in blue. He begins to draw her. She is unfriendly but icily efficient at her job. He buys sandwiches from her every day just to look at her. Are her eyes so big as a result of plastic surgery? (Some Asian women get their eye “fixed” to look Western.) He wants to know — and doesn't. As the story unfolds, we get a touching picture of his affection for his grandmother who is paralyzed and speechless from a stroke. She’s the only person he can talk to. Then a quirky girl in his class makes friends with him. She is wise beyond her years and opens his eyes to a few things. And he continues to draw Ms Ice Sandwich over and over until the drawing feels just right. This little story is bigger than its page count. There’s philosophy in it. There’s love in it — but no sentimentality. There’s the artist’s eye. I can see why Haruki Murakami admires this author. Elegantly spare and oddly evocative, Ms Ice Sandwich is a gem.

Recommend for those interested in modern Japanese literature

A beautiful story deftly told with an excellent translation from the original Japanese. The book is beautiful and arrived completely undamaged.

I was keen to read this story because I’d heard Mieko Kawakami is a writer’s writer and that appealed to me as an author of Japan-related fiction. I also wanted to read this book because Haruki Murakami is a big fan of Kawakami and that speaks volumes. I wasn’t disappointed. This novella is delightful! A hyper-visual adolescent’s innocent crush on an older lady who works in a sandwich shop is coupled with the blossoming relationship he has with Tutti, a young girl in his class. This allows for a charming story that’s easy to read thanks to the superb translation by Louise Heal Kawai. I can see why Kawakami is an award-winning writer in Japan. The Japanese philosophy “mono no aware” (an appreciation of the beauty attached to the fragility of life) is a recurring theme in Japanese art and literature and this story is a great example of that. It teaches us to appreciate what we have today because it may not be there tomorrow, just like the cherry blossoms in Japan. These famous flowers are strikingly beautiful when they’re in full bloom but disappear before you realise you’ve missed the chance to see them. Kawakami provides an excellent interpretation of this theme in this concise work. “The worst thing is, you never know when somebody’s going to just disappear.” “Huh?” “Yes, disappear, like go away and never come back. You never see them again. You want to see them but it’s too late, they’re gone.” (p. 70) The boy’s relationship with his grandmother and the memories of his father also tie into this viewpoint and give you pause for thought. This may not be Kawakami’s best work, but for me as a writer it was easy to appreciate and enjoy finding out more about this sweet adolescent because his character is so well developed throughout. The translator’s outstanding choice of vocabulary conveys the feelings and expectations of a boy of this age and thanks to Kawakami’s gentle but persuasive writing style, I felt like I was inside his mind. As I turned the pages, I could perceive the world that was opening up to him as he teetered on the cusp of adulthood. Overall, this is a lovely novella that I’d recommend to young readers. I have no doubt in my mind, their interest in reading would be heightened by the fact this story focuses on important questions about love, life, death, memories, and regret.

A good introduction to the work of Kawakami Mieko, one of Japan’s new generation of female writers. In this novella she captures extremely well the interior musings of a young adolescent coming to realizations about the true nature of the human condition. The women in his life - an aging grandmother, a distracted mother, an audacious female friend, the Ms. Ice Sandwich of the title - all come into clearer focus as the narrative moves along, both for him and for us. The young boy’s imaginary musings gradually give way to a more grounded reality, but one that still has room for flights of fancy in night time dreams. Kawakami’s prose flows effortlessly; the reader is both inside the hero’s mind and yet detached enough to judge the accuracy and true intent of his relatively naive world view. Having finished reading the novella, I’ll go now and find my own egg sandwich.