"Everyone lives in a happy go-lucky depression - they only take life half-seriously, you might say."

If I had to sum up this book in one quote, this would be it. The characters’ nonchalantness, indifference, coupled with the haziness and the blur that has been interwoven to the stories, predict the current state of affairs so accurately that it is hard to not find it disturbing. I relate so much to the way the characters perceive and interpret the world – and in many cases that includes being completely aphatetic, just going with the flow, powerless and dimly scared. The technological innovations or political changes did not bring a state of anger and extreme emotions as once predicted, it brought blur and forgetfulness. Shoegaze.

Against all the sci-fi elements in the backdrop, Suzuki places the characters – all of their interiority, as it is mixed and blurred by their relationships with others – in the center. ‘There is something wrong with our present society, and I can’t stand SF written by people who don’t understand that,’ she once wrote, apparently. I really appreciated this about her work- the focus on characters and relationships. After all, no matter what tech becomes, this is what will concern us the most.

And lastly, I have trouble choosing favorites in this collection. The first story, Women and Women, actually was the one I liked the least. However, I was so captured by the overall tone, that I kept reading. I’m very glad I did. You May Dream might be one of my favorites. I adored the characterization, the premise, the plot. Forgotten got to me in a way I didn’t expect. Terminal Boredom, The Old Seaside Club, Smoke gets in your eyes, and Night picnic were all similarly impressive.

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nightpicnic

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