{"id":2387,"date":"2025-03-26T02:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T02:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2387"},"modified":"2025-03-26T02:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T02:22:12","slug":"book-of-the-month-april-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2387","title":{"rendered":"Book of the Month April 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quizlit\u2019s Book of the Month April 2025 is Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami<\/a>. Just longlisted for the International Booker Prize<\/a>, this is a speculative fiction masterpiece that envisions an Earth where humans are nearing extinction, and rewrites our understanding of the future of humanity<\/p>\n

Book of the Month April 2025<\/h2>\n

Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami<\/h2>\n
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In the distant future, humans are on the verge of extinction and have settled in small tribes across the planet under the observation and care of the Mothers. Some children are made in factories, from cells of rabbits and dolphins; some live by getting nutrients from water and light, like plants. The survival of the race depends on the interbreeding of these and other alien beings \u2013 but it is far from certain that connection, love, reproduction, and evolution will persist among the inhabitants of this faltering new world.<\/p>\n

Unfolding over geological eons,\u00a0Under the Eye of the Big Bird<\/em>\u00a0is at once an astonishing vision of the end of our species as we know it and a meditation on the qualities that, for better and worse, make us human.<\/p>\n\n

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Buy Now<\/strong>: Amazon<\/a> | AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n

Under the Eye of the Big Bird has been Longlisted for the International Booker Prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the Eye of the Big Bird is full of precisely considered visions of a world post-mysterious collapse, all calmly related in language that is strangely soothing; there\u2019s a sense of inevitability to each of Kawakami\u2019s sentences and stories, even when what\u2019s inevitable is the fading of humanity . . . the work of a singular imagination and a book that will reward multiple readings.\u201d \u2014Molly Templeton, Esquire<\/p>\n

\u201cAn accomplished mosaic novel spanning thousands of years, it investigates change on the grandest scale: the evolutionary fate of humanity . . . The power and the pain of the novel lies in its ability to bridge between humanity as an abstract and humanity as a characteristic, to pick out moments from a vast sweep of time and show their insignificance and their simultaneous, ultimate importance. The novel ends with a plea from a speaker who doesn\u2019t know if they will ever be heard: I wanted to reach back into the page and say, you are.\u201d \u2014Niall Harrison, Locus Magazine<\/p>\n

\u201cKawakami takes her idiosyncratic and quirkily funny eye to science fiction . . . With signature style, Kawakami writes a distinct and off-kilter epic of Earth on the brink of collapse across 14 distinct geological epochs.\u201d \u2014Sam Franzini, Our Culture Mag<\/p>\n

Best Hiromi Kawakami Books to Read<\/h2>\n

Strange Weather in Tokyo<\/h3>\n
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Buy Now<\/strong>: Amazon<\/a> | AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n

Tsukiko, thirty\u2013eight, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, \u201cSensei,\u201d in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him \u201cSensei\u201d (\u201cTeacher\u201d). He is thirty years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.<\/p>\n

As Tsukiko and Sensei grow to know and love one another, time\u2019s passing is marked by Kawakami\u2019s gentle hints at the changing seasons: from warm sake to chilled beer, from the buds on the trees to the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Strange Weather in Tokyo is a moving, funny, and immersive tale of modern Japan and old\u2013fashioned romance.<\/p>\n

People From My Neighbourhood<\/h3>\n
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Buy Now<\/strong>: Amazon<\/a> | AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n

In Kawakami\u2019s super short \u2018palm of the hand\u2019 stories the world is never quite as it should be: a small child lives under a sheet near his neighbour\u2019s house for thirty years; an apartment block leaves its visitors with strange afflictions, from fast-growing beards to an ability to channel the voices of the dead; an old man has two shadows, one docile, the other rebellious; two girls named Yoko are locked in a bitter rivalry to the death.<\/p>\n

Small but mighty, you\u2019ll find strange delight in spending time with the people in this neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed Book of the Month April 2025, check out 5 Sensational New Books for April 2025<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quizlit\u2019s Book of the Month April 2025 is Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami. Just longlisted for the International Booker Prize, this is a speculative fiction masterpiece that envisions an Earth where humans are nearing extinction, and rewrites our understanding of the future of humanity Book of the Month April 2025 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}