Mild Vertigo

by Mieko Kanai
Mild Vertigo cover
Good Books rating 4.1
Literary Fiction
Technical:
  • ID: 413
  • Added: 2025-09-11
  • Updated: 2025-09-11
  • ISBN: 9780811232296
  • Publisher: New Directions Publishing
  • Published: 2023-05-02
  • Formats: 7
  • Reviews: 3
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £12.99

In 'Mild Vertigo,' Mieko Kanai presents an intoxicating stream-of-consciousness narrative that delves into the existential traps of motherhood, marriage, and domestic captivity. The story follows Natsumi, an ostensibly ordinary woman living in a Tokyo apartment with her husband and two sons, whose daily routines and social interactions blur into a relentless internal monologue. This novel vividly captures the dizzying experience of losing oneself amid the minutiae of a confined middle-class life where both significant and trivial events intertwine. Kanai's work, celebrated for its verbal acrobatics and surrealist style, offers a radically imaginative portrait of selfhood within late-stage capitalist society. With literary echoes of Clarice Lispector, Elena Ferrante, and Kobo Abe, 'Mild Vertigo' challenges readers to confront the complexities of identity and isolation in contemporary urban life. The novel's cult status in Japan and growing international acclaim highlight Kanai's unique voice as a novelist, essayist, and critic.

Reviews
Tony's Reading List · Tony · 2024-01-09
engaging 4.00

The book is praised for its distinctive writing style that pulls readers into the mundane life of a Tokyo housewife with flowing, run-on sentences. It captures the subtle emotional undercurrents beneath everyday domesticity with moments of sharp insight.

Tony appreciates how the novel stands out from typical domestic dramas through its unique prose style, which mimics the flow of thoughts and daily experiences with extended sentences that immerse the reader in the protagonist’s world. The writing conveys the complexity of the housewife’s inner life, revealing how she conceals her true feelings behind social pleasantries. The review highlights the novel’s ability to find depth and intrigue in the seemingly banal details of everyday life, making the ordinary feel compelling and alive. Tony’s reflections suggest that the book’s strength lies in its subtle emotional texture and the authenticity of its narrative voice.

Quick quotes

    Mild Vertigo is an excellent read.

    Kanai’s style here consists of a plethora of run-on sentences flowing onwards, pulling the reader into the story.

    She does tend to conceal more than she reveals.

Cleveland Review of Books · 2023-11-09
poignant 4.10

The novel portrays a deep sense of despair and monotony in domestic life, emphasizing the protagonist's Sisyphean daily routines and emotional exhaustion. It highlights the tension between the material constraints of housework and the intellectual world the protagonist yearns for.

This review reveals how the protagonist, Natsumi, is trapped in an exhausting cycle of domestic duties that drain her spirit, reflecting a broader theme of emotional impoverishment. The narrative resists dramatic change, showing instead a quiet resignation as Natsumi's attempts to break free or find new meaning repeatedly fail, underscoring the oppressive nature of her role as a housewife. The intellectual and cultural interests Natsumi harbors, such as her connection to photography exhibitions, offer fleeting glimpses of a different world but ultimately do not provide escape from her daily struggles. The review captures the novel’s nuanced exploration of the intersection between material life and inner life, portraying a poignant portrait of stifled existence.

Quick quotes

    An inchoate despair is the dominant mood of the novel.

    Her domestic life seems to resist all attempts at change.

    It is an event that forecloses any escape from the 'flat, monotonous life of a housewife . . . that somehow took an overwhelming toll on the spirit.'

Japan Society · 2023-08-01
introspective 4.20

The novel's monologue format immerses readers in the protagonist's stream of consciousness, capturing the universal mediocrity and loneliness of domestic life. It explores the isolation and consumerism entangled in the role of a middle-class Japanese housewife with both intimacy and detachment.

This review emphasizes how the novel uses a continuous monologue to blend interior thoughts and external interactions, creating a vivid and realistic portrayal of everyday life. The protagonist’s isolation is explored through her domestic duties, consumer habits, and social relationships, highlighting the emotional and existential vacuity of her existence. The review notes the universal aspects of the story, with petty dramas and small tragedies that resonate beyond the Japanese setting. The poignancy of mundane details, like a shopping list, underscores the emotional weight carried by seemingly trivial tasks, painting a subtle but affecting portrait of a life marked by quiet desperation.

Quick quotes

    A whole lot of nothing. The paradoxical fascination of the everyday mundane.

    Natsumi’s life appears to be a lonely one - her isolation in her confines of the housewife role are probed and digested from every possible angle.

    One of the novel’s most innocuous but somehow saddest moments is the insertion of a shopping list for, amongst other things: ‘Table-wiping cloths’ and ‘lunch-box snacks’.

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