THE DIVING POOL

devoured another collection of short stories from yoko ogawa, it is called THE DIVING POOL. disturbing, understated, CLASSIC GOTHIC HORROR

1. while not horror, her novel THE HOUSEKEEPER & THE PROFESSOR particularly + undeniably beautiful. a small, precious book. 2. ogawa writes only small, short books in my experience. they encompass much/engulf you fast. she’s efficient. 3. i’ve acquired a definite taste for her style. she’s cyclical: THE DIVING POOL is thematically, poetically consistent with her other collection (REVENGE). one passage (about math) seemed lifted directly from HOUSEKEEPER+PROFESSOR. same as before, i relished every moment. every. perfect. sentence.

the best story is the first: girl living at an orphanage (not an orphan) harbors evil feelings towards a 1-yr old (an orphan). the 1-yr old orphan abandonment issues, this dark, dostoeyevskian history. when u learn the details it is incredibly heartbreaking, a punch to the gut. babygirl + other major elements were giving me flashbacks of Bros. K: patricide/fratricide… unacknowledged natural son SMERDYAKOV as a black mold (daddy K saying to smerdyakov, “you grew from the mildew in the bath-house” walls, etc., w/ so much hatred)… if there’s one thing ogawa loves… it’s rot, decay, family secrets. xxx bookworm