It was very good, I enjoyed all the stories in the book as well as the characters and the writing style. I will have to get a physical copy once it’s released. Can’t wait to share with friends!

Huge thanks to Europa Editions and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review. First published in December 2016, the translation of The Woman Dies comes out September 2025.

Originally drawn by the cover and the title (the subtleties of which are painfully obvious even without opening the book), I quickly fell in love. It's the kind of book that makes me wish I spoke all the languages of the world so I could read anything anytime. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Polly Barton for translating, and I can't wait to read your translation of Butter as well!

The book is a collection of short stories, some more fleshed out, others the length of a sentence. Each of them feels like a magnifying glass shining on issues that women face, overall tying together in a refreshing perspective on feminism. Some of these little stories are so absurd, but so relatable at the same time - there is You Are Not What You Eat (which singlehandedly fixed my relationship with food), Toshiba Mellow #20 18-Watt (which had me scream-laughing), The Start of the Weekend (which paints a hilarious picture of what financial anxiety feels like).

The stories above are a few of my favorites in terms of simplicity and humor, but there are a few that dig a little deeper, are a bit more serious, but just as impactful (I Hate The Girls That You Like, The Woman Dies, The Masculine Touch). They are of course just as delightful to get through, and though the themes are more serious, the absurdist vibe persists.

Overall, this book is the epitome of "if you know you know" and "for the girls". Lovely quick read, stories that will stick with you for a while! Can't wait to get the physical book when it comes out 🤍

This is a fantastic, surreal, fun, otherworldly, (yet sometimes also relatable) book of short stories.

Reading this almost made me feel like I was dropped randomly into other people's journal entries. I loved that some stories fit together by making small references to each other, while others were standalone. The stories were all short enough to read several in once sitting and were divided up nicely between longer stories and super short stories. The beginning of the book contained a lot of stories that were a bit lighter and sillier, then the stories got a bit heavier as the book went on. The book is considered a feminist novel but I felt like that was overstating it - I liked that I was reading stories about misogyny and feminist issues (sometimes flipped on their heads) without feeling like I was being beaten over the head with the rhetoric that I'm already on board with.

I honestly wasn't sure what to think about this book when I first started, but I ended up enjoying it immensely. I can't wait to buy this book for a friend who I know would love it for it's weirdness, just like I did.

Thank you, NetGalley and Eurpoa Editions for the eARC!

A very interesting read! I wish I had looked at the notes towards the end of the book before reading, because the context they provide is very helpful in understanding what is happening in the stories.

Nonetheless, the stories brought about interesting perspectives about things like sex, what feminism looks like, and the culture of Japanese people. “Boy” being the first story was a true attention grabber, and it was such a unique concept that I remained hooked for the rest of the book. Little context is needed to read these stories as individuals, but again, the notes at the end might be helpful to read before diving in to understand what it is you’re walking into.

This is a series of very short stories (some are less than a page). As with any collection, some are more engaging than others, but DNF'ed around 54% as I was really struggling. Some ratings for the stories I made it through:
Whose name was Boy 3/5
Bond 3.5/5
Starry night 4/5
English composition no. 1 2.5/5
I hate the girls that you like 4/5
Money 2.5/5
You are not what you eat 2/5
My secret thrill 2/5
God must be stupid 3/5
Thoughts on balthus's the street the national anthem gets bad 3/5
The sky blue hand 1.5/5
This precious opportunity 4/5
The woman dies 3.5/5
How to transform from a punk into a girl-next-door
How to transform from a girl-next-door into a bad girl Victoria's secret 3.5/5
The year of no wild flowers 2/5
Murder in the cat cafe 3/5
We can't do it! 1/5
Toshiba mellow #20 18-watt hawai'i 2/5
The purest woman in the kingdom 3/5

Thank you to Europa Editions for an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will be published on 9/2/25.

I really enjoyed this short story collection. Some stories are better than others, but I really appreciated the variety and the imagination that shines throughout.

I will say, I think the ebook file I had was corrupted and/or not formatted corretly, which made some sections really difficult to read. But this is definitely something I was buy and read when published!

First of all, I love the cover. It does a great job of conveying the odd, uncanny, and fascinating stories within. It’s always hard to rate story collections because of course I liked some more than other. But overall the collection was really good and cohesive. I enjoyed the social commentaries laced throughout and how unique the writing style felt for each story. I think the titular story was my favorite.

4.5 stars. This collection of subversive, impactful, and powerful feminist stories is a must read. It succeeds where a lot of translated literature can fall short. You never feel like you are missing some kind of cultural context here and the women in the stories are frightenly relatable. Very well done.

It’s hard to summarize Aoko Matsuda’s collection of stories in The Woman Dies. Some are only the length of a poem while some weave a complex narrative. Some are clearly related through themes and characters while some leave you wondering (not in a bad way) what they’re doing here. But they are all bite-sized morsels of brilliance that are both funny and thought-provoking.

Much like the story taken from Forrest Gump’s famous quote, “Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates,” you never know what you’re going to get from each of Matsuda’s stories. In one is the perspective of a resident of Van Gogh’s painting (“Starry Night”), in another the pressures of life come out as vomit (“You Are Not What You Eat”), and in another the pain of an unrequited crush is told from the perspective of the national anthem and its feelings for one who refuses to sing it (“The National Anthem Gets It Bad”). Some stories contain reversals, such as “We Can’t Do It!” (rather than Rosie the Riveter’s proclamation “We can do it”) and a story about “The Masculine Touch.” Some stories ask questions, such as, “What if the doodles we fill our margins with came to life?” (“Braids”) and, “What would it look like if we could literally dissect misogyny?” (“Dissecting Misogyny”). Some stories recount imaginative interactions with daily objects, such as yogurt lids and pots of lip balm, as well as meditations on pop culture, from Dr. Spencer Reid to Bette Davis, from Tinkerbell to Bond women.

Overall, I found these stories delightful. I would recommend reading this book on paper (rather than an e-reader) so that you can flip between the stories and the author’s one-line commentaries at the back with greater ease.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for my ARC!

The Woman Dies is a genre-defying marvel that pushes the boundaries of storytelling with wit, boldness, and an uncanny sense of play. Aoko Matsuda delivers a collection that is as cerebral as it is emotionally resonant. It examines themes like sexism, societal numbness to violence against women, and the eeriness of our relationship with technology, all through a wonderfully weird and bitingly clever lens.

What sets Matsuda apart is her ability to tackle serious, often painful subjects with a deadpan humor and surrealist flair that disarms even as it confronts. These stories are laced with the unexpected: objects that narrate, language that morphs meaning mid-sentence, and women who refuse to die quietly—on screen or otherwise. Every piece feels like stepping into a different world, or rather, into this world seen from an entirely new, unsettling angle.

There’s a powerful rhythm to Matsuda’s writing: restrained, then suddenly fevered; detached, then sharply intimate. Her feminist critiques are not shouted, but etched with quiet precision and poetic absurdity, making them all the more potent. You’ll laugh, but the laughter might catch in your throat.

Reading The Woman Dies feels like wandering through a dreamscape built by someone who understands how deeply reality can wound—and how language, humor, and invention can fight back.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What was this !
It was really hard to make sense of the stories and I didn’t see where they were going with a lot of the stories.

Some were funny and better than others but most literally were nonsense but it was all a bit of fun.
I loved the Barbie movie so thought this sounded fun and interesting but I couldn’t didn’t make head or tail of most of the stories.

It just wasn’t for me .

The Woman Dies had all the ingredients for something powerful, but the execution fell flat for me. The message was loud, but not layered — more told than felt. It skimmed the surface of big themes without giving them room to breathe. I wanted to care, to feel, but the emotional spark never came. Ambitious concept, just didn’t land.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I've been really enjoying Japanese fiction lately and I've also been getting into short stories, so this seemed like and obvious choice to pick up. I'm glad to say that I was not disappointed. 

The stories in this were funny, but they also had a lot to say about different societal issues, especially related to feminism. 

They definitely had similar vibes to other Japanese fiction I've read recently, so fans of recent Japanese fiction will definitely enjoy this. 

I'd also recommend this to people who like a funnier take on serious issues. 

The ARC was formatted a little weird so it was a bit of a chore to get through at times because of that, but I'm really looking forward to picking up a  copy once it's published and rereading the whole thing.

I honestly don’t know what to say for this one.
There was nothing objectively bad or wrong with this book. It was written/translated well and the characters for each story were fine. Just fine.
My biggest complaints were that I did not enjoy my time and also I felt like it was trying to be meaningful and powerful when it wasn’t. You could tell that it was trying so hard to be a feminist collection, as it’s described on all its platforms, and it was not.
Meh.

This is a SUPER quick read!

I was originally drawn to this book because of its cover art. I thought it was so fun, cute and I was intrigued.

This book is a collection of super short stories (their length ranges from one page to about eight pages).

This reads almost like poetry in a way, sometimes that was good thing and sometimes the writing felt clunky. But I do believe that this is translated, so I give it some grace because of that. The nuance of language can get lost a bit through the translation.

My favorite story was "God Must Be Stupid." It is about wishing your cat was immortal. And I completely agree with the entire little story. I do think that cats should be immortal (I think all pets should be).

I also love that this author also loves Dr. Spencer Reid. (I mean, who doesn't?) I don't trust people that don't love Dr. Spencer Reid.

This has stories on girlhood, sexism, society, and whatever random ramblings may sprout into one's head. And I think that was very fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

The message in the novel The Woman Dies is strong, but the unsubtleness of how the message was delivered had me unentertained. I sense a sort of hastily written exploration of thoughts exploring critiques of the society, but it failed to stir any real emotions. I sensed a detachment, and I wish we had dived deeper. The potential was definitely there, it just didn’t land for me. I wanted more nuance, more tension, more connection. Instead, it felt like ideas thrown at a wall, hoping something would stick. A cool concept, but not one that’ll stay with me. 2.5 rounded up.

“And that concludes my live demonstration! So now you see what misogyny looks like, dissected and slit open. It doesn’t make a very pretty sight with its flesh all over the tabletop like that, does it? But we’ve come to the end now, so there’s to be no more fainting, okay ladies?”

“The Woman Dies” is a playful, reflective, surreal and surprising collection of stories that touches on themes of adolescence, misogyny and masculinity. There are horror stories, sci-fi stories, fantasy stories, cat stories.. I was really impressed by the range. This collection’s satirical story about men fighting misandry to be taken seriously in their fields was probably one of my favorites. Many of the stories left me really thinking and it will be a while before I’m done flipping back through them.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.