こちらあみ子 (ちくま文庫)

There’s a line in the movie *A Love Like a Bouquet* that goes, “That person is the kind who wouldn’t feel a thing even if they read Natsuko Imamura’s *Picnic*.” Curious about what kind of book it was, I decided to read *Kochira Amiko*, the collection that includes this short story. As it turned out, I fell into the third category: “people who can’t understand the story.” I could tell something unsettling was happening, but I didn’t grasp its meaning until I read a spoiler. Like “Picnic,” many...

Amiko lives in a world cut off from meaningful connections with others. She is surrounded by things that are “fun” and “cheerful,” and always seems very happy. The author’s writing style is deliberately simple and gentle, reminiscent of a children’s novel. The vocabulary used in the text is also exclusively cute and extremely simple. This is because the story is depicted from a perspective close to her own—she has a mild intellectual disability and is much like a kindergarten child. However,...