Fumi, Ryu’s transgender sister, is also intrigued by the stubborn and standoffish girl, whom she hires as a painting assistant for her studio. As they bond while browsing in an English-language bookshop and reading together in the library, Ryu falls in love with Miwako, sensing a softness and compassion behind her hard exterior, but she refuses to date him. Reluctantly attending a group blind date, Waseda University student Ryusei Yanagi is immediately attracted to Miwako Sumida, whose “serious expression behind a pair of old-fashioned thick-rimmed glasses” and blunt manner are at odds with her prettier and flirtier girlfriends. (Mar.When a Tokyo university student hangs herself in a remote forest, three devastated friends seek to understand why. The tug of Miwako’s strange, troubled spirit will wrench readers from the beginning. Goenawan’s luminous prose captures the deep emotions of her characters as they grapple with questions about family history, gender, and sexuality. After Miwako goes to Kitsuyama, a remote Japanese village, and commits suicide, Ryusei and Chie follow a trail of clues from letters and diary entries to understand why she killed herself. Goenawan conveys Miwako’s story in three parts, alternating from the gentle and heartbroken Ryusei, artist and late-night hostess Fumi, and wistful and anxious best friend Chie, who accompanies Miwako to get an abortion without knowing who had gotten her pregnant, having sensed that her friend had been raped.

Ryusei is drawn by Miwako’s candor (“You seem pretty frivolous to me,” she tells him after admitting surprise at his deeper interests), but the two stay in romantic limbo as Miwako keeps Ryusei at a distance. They bond while browsing in an English-language bookstore, reading together in their university’s library, and assisting Ryusei’s sister, Fumi, at her painting studio. Ryusei Yanagi first meets fellow student Miwako Sumida at a restaurant near the Waseda university campus in Tokyo. Goenawan’s tender and tragic follow-up to Rainbirds follows a group of college friends grasping for answers after the death of their friend.

Rainbirds clarissa goenawan