People from My Neighborhood (translated by Ted Goossen) is the second book of Hiromi Kawakami’s that I’ve read. I enjoyed Strange Weather in Tokyo, though I remember struggling with the writing style. Thankfully in People from My Neighborhood the kind of detached, observative tone works really well. The 120 page book has nearly 40 stories, each focusing on a peculiar character or event from the narrator’s neighborhood. All sorts of things are encountered: disappearing gravity, disease that makes you like a pigeon, man who has two shadows etc. But everything is written in such a matter of fact way that I kept questioning if I read the story right - did someone really say that humans come from eggs?

I was hoping for some overarching theme or story line, yet I did enjoy this as it is: never knowing what the next story holds but eager to find out. A solid 4/5 stars, I definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a quick, fun and surprising read!