This would’ve served better as a single essay. The majority is just one story and then like two others tacked on, and I think something was lost in translation with all of them.

3.5
People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae (translated by Emily Balistrieri) comprises an interesting collection of short stories that touch upon themes of friendship, gender politics and stereotypes, feminism, isolation and loneliness and mental and emotional well-being.

In the first story “Realizing the Fun Things Through Water”(3.5/5) we meet Hatsuoka who receives a case of “hyper-organization water” from her soon to be mother–in–law who tells her to talk to it, sharing happy thoughts to increase its potency. Hatsuoka is conflicted over her impending marriage, unsure of what she wants while also dealing with the pain of the loss of her sister who had been missing for almost two years. As she waits for her sister to return to the house the shared with her sister, she anxiously contemplates the upcoming changes in her life. The second in this collection is the novella “People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice” (3.5/5) revolves around university students Nanamori, Mugito, Shiraki and others who are members of a Plushie Club whose purpose is to give its member the space to talk to stuffed animals for emotional support. The author tackles sensitive issues such as gender identity stereotypes, misogyny and mental health with sensitivity and compassion in this story. But the narrative seems a tad long and could have been more compact. In “Bath Towel Footage” (2.5/5) a woman sees an unpleasant side to her boyfriend while attending a comedy show, making her question her compatibility with him. The final story, “Hello, Thank You, I’m Okay” (3/5) revolves around Marumi and her family and how they each interact with her shut-in brother and how they cope with his decision to have a birthday party with his invisible friends and the aftermath.

Needless to say, the title of this book and that cover grabbed my attention. The tone of these thought-provoking stories is predominantly melancholic and emotionally charged. At times I found it difficult to connect with the characters and found the narrative in a few of the stories a tad disjoint, lacking in cohesiveness, though that might have been deliberate in keeping with the character’s state of mind. (Given that I read a translation of the original, I feel that perhaps fine tuning the translation and/or the editing might have made a difference.) I did have a problem with the length of these stories. While the novella could have been more compact, the final two stories did not allow us to explore the characters well enough. Overall, while I did appreciate the concept and themes that are explored in these stories, the execution left a bit to be desired.

Many thanks to author Ao Omae, publisher HarperVia and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book is due to be released on June 06, 2023.

The translation just did not work for me, that's my biggest issue with this collection. The stories were all over the place too. They tried to tackle gender-related issues, I think, but the execution failed and did not grab my attention. I love reading Japanese literature, but unfortunately not everything can be a hit.

Placeholder. Will update when the Harper Collins union new contract is finalized. Thank you again to the publisher for the copy.

A decent collection of short stories. They were just too short for me to enjoy fully. I am one who likes long character driven novels, and am very picky about short stories. While I liked this one, I felt something was a bit " lost in translation".

This grouping of stories just didn't do it for me. The characters weren't relatable and the translation wasn't as clear as it could have been.

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, what an adorable cover! It made me want to pick up this book right away! People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae is a short collection of short stories that have been translated from Japanese. If you've read contemporary Japanese fiction before (ex. Haruki Murakami or Sayaka Murata), then you know what you're in for. The short stories run the gamut from psychological to magical, from horror to heart-warming.

Here is an excerpt from the first story, "Realizing Fun Things Through Water":

"How have you been? Going over the plan for the ceremony the other day, it really sank in. Please talk to the waters in these bottles every day. The best time is on an empty stomach when you have fewer impurities. Please choose fun topics as often as possible. Supposedly, if each atom is happy, the ions mature and help keep you from getting cancer. This miracle water even makes you more passionate; it’s so popular I could only buy one box, so I’m sending it to you, Hatsuoka—because you need to take good care of your body. And if your sister comes home, please have her drink some, too. Please pray to the waters that she’ll come back. Talk to you soon."

Overall, People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice is an eccentric and provocative collection of short stories. The first story is more fun and silly, with the mother-in-law wanting the main character to talk to water. The second story, the title novella, appears fun at first - look at these people talking to stuffed animals! But then, it turns dark quickly with mentions of sexual assault and discussions of masculinity. The final story has elements of horror and mental illness. It is quite sad, but I guess that's the point. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of Japanese fiction in translation, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

a collection of short stories about gender and relationships, to me this was severely hindered by the translator. the translator emphasized the ending vowels of words by writing them like “yayyyyyy” which really took away from the narrative of certain stories.

while the main story, and namesake, “people who talk to stuffed animals” was wonderful and made me cuddle my own stuffed animals, i didn’t think the other stories held up against it. they were much, much shorter. i didn’t feel that this was an accurate representation of a sexuality either, and the theme of gender is lacking in the sense that there are no explicitly lgbtqia+ titles nor words. it’s up to speculation.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars. This book wasn’t what I expected. I appreciated all the asexual rep here. It seemed like the first two stories dealt a lot with a sexuality and how romance and love are seen in different ways. The first story dealt with a woman who was waiting for her younger sister to return who had disappeared one night while also trying to figure out her feelings for her boyfriend who had recently proposed to her. She knows she doesn’t love him in a romantic way and only started dating him because he liked her and she wanted to be nice. She agrees to marry him to make him happy.

The second story is the story from the title and deals with a young man who has never really embraced what “being a man” means and spends most of his time with women. He has joined his college’s “plushie club” where members talk to stuffed animals about their problems. A girl who he has gotten close to and “loves” in a strong friendship way decide to join the club together. After she stops coming to school, he befriends another girl from the club and asks her out in hopes of having a girlfriend, even though he only likes her as a friend. This story has a lot of themes of mental illness and how we deal with the world around us. If bad things happen, who do you talk to? It also deals with what it means to be a man. The main character is afraid of being a man because of what that means to other people. Other people are afraid of men and he has always been around women and done “womanly” things. I could also see themes of gender dysphoria in him as well. This story felt way too long and I felt like it could have been cut in half.

The last two stories were shorter and had very similar themes. A woman who feels sick and want to turn into a ghost after her brother and his partner begin telling misogynistic stand up and a girl whose younger brother begins binding himself in tape in order to be with his imaginary friends. I appreciated the message here even though the endings of all of them didn’t make much sense to me. There were also times where I didn’t understand what was being said because I’m sure the translation wasn’t 100%. I appreciated the stories here even though I didn’t really understand where the end was going with most of them. While the messages were there, I feel like there was more I didn’t understand because of the language barrier. If you like short story fiction, I recommend giving it a try for yourself!