Speculative fiction structured as interlinking short stories. Hiromi Kawakami’s inventive novel traces back to a stint in an SF group at university. Kawakami is partly inspired here by fiction she discovered at that stage in her writing career: old school SF in particular Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles which she characterises as a quiet, lyrical narrative centred on destruction. Kawakami’s story’s set in a possible version of Earth, a succession of large- and small-scale, cataclysmic events have brought humans close to extinction. Countries such as Japan no longer exist, instead the world’s carved up into regions strictly isolated from one another. The rationale for this grouping’s rooted in the hope that different societies and configurations might eventually bring about new evolutionary forms, genetic shifts that may hold the key to future human survival. However, this isn’t a traditional plot-driven piece rather it’s deliberately modelled on the mythic – numerous chapters have a fable or fairy tale quality. Although, as it unfolds, it gradually veers towards more technical, hard SF territory focused on possible developments in bioengineering and AI.

Kawakami’s narrative is deliberately disorientating, constructed so readers have to puzzle out links between scenes and characters, although the final chapters provide explanations for most of what’s gone before. The timespan is vague but seems to cover several generations, some characters make brief appearances, others reappear at different stages in the story. This imagined world is inhabited by a range of organic and inorganic beings including a smattering of humans, some are mutated humans, some hybrids connecting other species and technologies – physical descriptions are often brief to non-existent so it’s up to readers to work out which is which as they go along. I liked Kawakami’s style, especially the earlier myth-like chapters, and found aspects of her worldbuilding highly appealing, if a little underdeveloped. Like a lot of SF, Kawakami’s clearly commenting on current realities as much as she’s mapping out futuristic scenarios – speciesism, climate change, the impact of technological advances. Her underlying messages are fairly familiar, less sophisticated than I’d have liked, mostly revolving around the tension between human capacity for creativity versus a tendency to engage in devastating behaviours. There’s an emphasis too on the cyclical, a little reminiscent of ideas of eternal recurrence, but shot through with faint optimism, the possibility that the latest cycle might improve on previous ones. I was less convinced by Kawakami’s critique of politics and religion. I was equally uncertain about Kawakami’s representation of technical, scientific elements like the role of AI – here surprisingly positive – and of genetic engineering, which felt frustratingly insubstantial at times. I also had questions about the specifics of this potential world such as the curious “innocence” of the different regions’ inhabitants, their near-profound lack of curiosity and an oddly docile acceptance of their fate. For me the mysterious aspects were far more satisfying than subsequent reveals. But, despite reservations, it was still an entertaining read, gripping and intriguing throughout. Translated by Asa Yoneda.

Absolutely obsesssssssssssssssed with this. I have read all of Kawakami's previously translated publications and this seems like such a fresh and new approach from them. Where they seem to usually focus on the mundane and character profiles, this is a weird dystopian, sci-fi version of that. I was lapping up every page and was sad when it ended.

Under the Eye of the Big Bird is a novel that will have you scratching your head for the first few chapters, as we switch between various narrators and, seemingly, time periods in this confusing dystopian world. However, it is absolutley critical that you persevere, because all will become clear, in the most uniqiue and brilliant way. I was blown away, truly, this might be one of the finest dystopian novels I have ever had the pleasure to read.

Each chapter at first seems almost like a short story, with similarities which make you think they might be linked, but then something will come up out of nowhere which doesn't seem to fit with what we've already learnt about this world. But when the pieces come together, it is so worth all the confusion. This novel is an exhilarating exploration of the realities and risks of technological innovation, looking at society, climate change, governance and various other themes. A truly phenomenal novel, I can't recommend this more highly!

This novel, or is it a set of sequential, linked short stories, takes place in an unspecified future. Society is completely remade as a few isolated settlements, people are made in factories and there are rigid requirements placed on all to take certain roles and maintain the new status quo. Each chapter / short story has its own central character who may or may not appear in a subsequent story to tie everything together.

A gentle, light read with plenty of hazy feelings in lush landscapes.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I spent most of this book confused about what was going on. I thought I got the hang of it, then the narrative moved to another viewpoint. These people are human, but are they really? Where are we? When are we?

However, once I let go and just enjoyed the moment, the whole story started to coalesce and the future of humanity emerged.

A recommended read for lovers of speculative fiction.

This is a collection of distinct (but connected) short stories spanning the final millennia of the human race. I took my time reading this book over the course of a few weeks and enjoyed it greatly. Even though it is short, I think the story is better understood when digested in small chunks. I found myself with lots to think about! The story is non-linear, but there are clear threads running throughout each chapter.

Firstly, the translation was fantastic. I obviously can't speak for the original, but the prose was descriptive and interesting. Each chapter had a different feel, emphasised by the use of different points of view. I think this was skillfully done as it can sometimes be quite jarring. Also, I felt that the topic was well researched and thought out. The overarching story revealed itself naturally through the book, and the author was able to leave some aspects unknown until the end. The intermingling of technology with human life is a hot topic right now, so this was a very timely book from Hiromi Kawakami.

I have not read anything else by this author, but I will be doing so in the future. I enjoyed her quiet take on a big-picture topic, and I am interested to see if this same atmosphere is present in her other works. I would recommend Under the Eye of the Big Bird to sci-fi and dystopian fans who want to try something with a big-picture focus. Thank you NetGalley and Granta Publications for providing this e-ARC for an honest review.

Surreal but lacking in story. The writing itself was beautiful but that's about all I enjoyed. I feel like the story was overshadowed.

I started reading this book on New Years Day and initially thought I was still a bit merry from the night before, but no, as per the blurb above, this is a book set in an entirely transformed world. Modern Japan is full of factories that create humans. People are watched. Mothers look after many children. Men travel and breed. Mostly girls are born. The human race is on the edge of extinction, but holding on...

At first I thought the book was a series of short stories and I couldn't immediately link the first chapters together, but I didn't mind, as each one is beautiful and a complete story in its own right. And each opens onto a different scene in this new modern world.

After completing my third or fourth chapter, I started to see the linkage. The stories are all told sequentially but leap forward decades, centuries or even thousands of years, either within the chapter or between chapters, so with every page you are moving further into this strange and wonderous world. But are we moving closer or further away from extinction?

The book, characters and writing style, also change quite dramatically as you progress. Initially the sentence structure is short and sparse, which works exceptionally well for the initial introduction to a very stripped back, raw world. A world which struck me as empty of many of the emotions and feelings that we would normally recognise in humanity. Love and hate both appear absent and the world appears to be a bland form of existence.

But similar to life today, one thing is constant - change. And so it is for the vivid world Kawakami has created, 'life' is constantly changing and evolving. Human mutations occur, social structures break down, new structures are created and feelings intensify. And it is not only the world that is changing but also Kawakami's writing style, that twists and turns with each new unique chapter and story. The oddest include a one sided dialogue and another where AI breaks the fourth wall. And while I admit, I found these two chapters to be my least favourite, the latter was useful in providing a number of revelations and completing the gaps in the story. However that said, I didn't mind pondering over these loose ends, but I am sure other readers will love this part and its conclusions to the questions raised.

I am going to stop there, as I don't want to share the ultimate revelations of this story, but suffice to say, I found this book completely magical and a tremendous accomplishment. It is only the start of the year but I feel this book will be one of my favourite for 2025.

As to who would like this book, I suggest that it demands the reader be open to the future Kawakami has asked us to consider, given its stark differences to our 'current' world. The writing style as I have said above, is of short stories, each one covering one chapter and sharing one part of this world's story, zooming in on a particular region, role or race. Within each is woven the broader enchanting tale of the quest for survival of the human race. However, the story is not bereft of hope (which is a quality that is in absence in many dystopian stories), and it is probably why I connect more strongly with this book and not others on climate and technological evolution/destruction.

If you are open to a fascinating journey into the way the world could evolve and are willing to deal with a little bit of complexity, it is a stunning and beautiful exploration.

I think it is incredibly clever and a fantastic work of fiction.

I love this. I have read a lot of dystopian fiction but this feels unlike anything I have read before. Each chapter reads like a short story even though they are all linked. In the first chapter when describing her husband the character says: My husband is tall and generously built. I am tall for a woman, but when he hugs me, I feel as though I’ve been neatly rolled in heavy cloth, which is very pleasant. Something about this turn of phrase really appealed to me and I knew I would enjoy the book. It’s the third book I have read by this author and I look forward to move. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this.

A book set in the future where humans are created in different ways and live in various communities, some more successfully than others.
It is told through a series of different voices, and almost reads like short stories. I found the ideas in this book to be incredibly interesting, but as a whole it didn't come together in an entirely coherent way for me. Still a worthwhile read though and one I will continue to think about.

These read like short stories, although they are all connected and it (kind of) comes together at the end, with more details on how this post-collapse world works.

There's a lot covered - AI, small societies of humans after most of humanity collapsed and humans nearly went extinct, clones, watchers, and a lot on reproductive rights, with an army of "mothers" watching over children... My favourite chapter was The Drift, where a watcher comes across a tribe of undiscovered humanoids, and watch them with disgust as they go on about their lives, seemingly very content. There was more about this tribe later, but the chapter itself was very poignant. I can't say it all came together in the end for me, I still found the whole universe created by Kawakami confusing and difficult to follow, but it didn't prevent my enjoyment of the novel.

I'd like to preface this review by saying that I generally like Hiromi Kawakami's work and think that it is underrated, or at least it tends to get lost among the outputs of Sayka Murata and Mieko Kawakami. I especially like when she does something other than contemporary Japanese slice of life fiction - my favourite of her translated works to date is People From My Neighbourhood - a collection of delightfully weird flash fiction. So when I realised that Under the Eye of the Big Bird, blurbed as a work of dystopian fiction, is more of a collection of (presumably) connected stories, rather than a post-apocalyptic novel, I was ready to give it a chance.

Unfortunately, it suffers from the 'literary author does genre' curse. The stories are meant to be evocative, but professional genre authors do evocative without losing the characters, the plot or the engaging prose. Moreover, sci-fi specifically is a genre originally built on the art of short fiction, on creating stories centred around concepts and driven by them. These stories, at least the ones I had the patience for, do not offer interesting or innovative concepts or hooks. They sort of bleed into each other, mumbling something about gender roles along the way. Dreary and dull, to me they read like pulling teeth. I had to DNF at about the 20% mark, something I rarely do (and should do more often, life is short).

I don't mind the gentle tone and absence of central conflicts, something a reader would expect from Western dystopias, often absent in Japanese ones. I loved Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police despite not connecting with the characters or the meandering plot, due to the power of its central metaphor. A part of me feels like I am not giving this book a chance - maybe all these seemingly disconnected drafts and studies will come together into some sort of a layered polyphonic crescendo, but you know what, if by the 20% mark I have no will left to go on and discover that crescendo, that already tells you something fundamental about the book.

If you like gentle and lulling cryptic stories with a post apocalyptic bend, maybe this will work for you, but it was absolutely not a book for me.

Very fascinating book. A series of interconnected stories about how humans will die out. Absolutely thought provoking and I definitely recommend this; you’ll feel very philosophical when you finish it.

Throughout the book you’ll probably be wondering how this all relates to each other, but in the last 2 chapters you’ll quickly discover just how connected every chapter is.

As much as the backstory is quite innovative and interesting, all these chapters detached from each other, and before I realized that they were not chronologically contemporary, made this book a bit boring for me as the distancing language also did not help. It's also certainly different from her other books I've read previously so for so many reasons I don't think I would recommend it except to my science fiction reading group because it's certainly something different from the usual.

Per quanto la storia di fondo sia piuttosto innovativa ed interessante, tutti questi racconti staccati tra loro, prima che io capissi che non erano cronologicamente contemporanei, hanno reso questo libro per me un po' noioso e anche il linguaggio distaccato non ha aiutato. Inoltre é certamente diverso dagli altri suoi libri che ho letto precedentemente quindi per tanti motivi non credo che lo consiglierei se non al mio gruppo di lettura della fantascienza, perché sicuramene é qualcosa di diverso dal solito.

One of the most unique speculative fiction experiences I've ever had. This is not a book per se - there are no protagonists and no plot. Rather, a collection of short stories, loosely connected, describe various aspects of a new reality for the human race, as it evolves over thousands of years in the future. As the stories progress, we increasingly discover why things are the way they are, and how the world came to be the way it is.

It's not a simple book to master, but, despite this, it reads very well, and the story progression is actually quite vibrant. The themes are complex and multidimensional in their complexity - the role of conflict and love in human relations, the potential role of AI in humanity's survival, the role of evolution, the role of religion, the tension between determinism and free will, etc. All these are elegantly handled, in an almost poetic way. There are parts of this book that remind me of a philosophical tract, others that remind me of Margaret Atwood's Madaddam trilogy, and, yet others, evoke distinct feelings of myths of creation.

I highly recommend it to anyone interested in speculative fiction, especially with more of an intellectual bend. While it's not for everyone, those who take the plunge will come out having been challenged to think and see differently.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

What an excruciatingly beautiful masterpiece. This book is so weird and unique, the more I read, the more I was captivated. I loved it more and more, the further I got. This is one of the best sci-fi books I’ve read; the writing style is supreme, quick, and transcendent even. I’ve never read another book that floats that way, like a whisper on the wind, so poetic and dry at the same time. This is the story about the evolution and extinction of the human race; you don’t need to know more. You just need to read this book. Dystopian epic bound to be a classic one day.
Thank you to NetGalley and Granta Publications for providing me with the ARC.

Book Overview: Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
Hiromi Kawakami, the acclaimed author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, takes readers on a profound and imaginative journey into a far-future Earth where humanity teeters on the brink of extinction. Under the Eye of the Big Bird is a speculative meditation on survival, evolution, and what it means to be human when the boundaries of life as we know it have dissolved.

Plot Summary
In this distant future, humanity has dwindled to isolated tribes scattered across a transformed Earth. Their existence is overseen by enigmatic entities known as the Mothers, caretakers who guide them with both nurturing and detached indifference. The natural process of human reproduction is a relic of the past. Now, children are manufactured in factories using hybrid cells from rabbits, dolphins, and other animals.

Some beings have evolved beyond traditional human biology, adapting to the planet's harsh new conditions. Some absorb nutrients like plants, while others embody more alien traits. Connection and love, once integral to humanity, are fading memories, and the continued survival of these beings relies on fragile and often faltering interspecies unions.

As millennia unfold, the story explores whether these fractured remnants can find ways to adapt, evolve, and create new forms of existence—or whether humanity, as an idea, will quietly fade into the geological timeline.

Themes Explored
Extinction and Evolution
Kawakami paints a vivid picture of a world where humanity faces its inevitable decline and must contend with new definitions of survival and legacy.

Identity and Connection
The novel asks whether love, intimacy, and shared understanding can survive in a world where the human form and experience are no longer uniform or universal.

The Role of Caretakers
The Mothers’ ambiguous role—both protector and passive observer—raises questions about agency, dependence, and the limits of control.

What Makes Us Human
As humanity blends with other species and adapts in unimaginable ways, the novel reflects on what qualities, if any, remain to define us as human.

Time and Change
By spanning geological eons, the book offers a sweeping perspective on impermanence and resilience in the face of monumental change.

Why You’ll Love It
Philosophical Depth
Kawakami’s narrative isn’t just a futuristic tale; it’s a profound exploration of humanity’s core traits and the forces that drive connection, empathy, and survival.

Rich World-Building
From biotechnological children to plant-like beings, the novel’s world is imaginative, strange, and eerily plausible.

Kawakami’s Poetic Style
Her prose, known for its quiet intensity and emotional resonance, shines here even as it ventures into speculative territory.

Thought-Provoking Questions
Readers will ponder humanity’s place in the cosmos and how we might endure even as we transform into something unrecognizable.

Who Should Read This Book?
Fans of speculative fiction that blurs the line between literary and sci-fi, akin to works by Kazuo Ishiguro (Klara and the Sun) or Jeff VanderMeer (Annihilation).
Readers who enjoy philosophical meditations on humanity and survival, such as The Overstory by Richard Powers or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.
Anyone fascinated by evolution, extinction, and the possibilities of post-human futures.
Final Thoughts
Under the Eye of the Big Bird is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking work that combines Kawakami’s signature introspective storytelling with an expansive vision of the far future. It challenges readers to rethink what it means to be human while presenting a hauntingly beautiful and strange new world.

Rating: ★★★★★
A literary masterpiece that defies genre and lingers in the mind long after the final page.

2.5
I found this odd but not in a good way. The writing was strong but the story didn’t work for me. It was messy and disjointed with a heavy focus on motherhood, babies, and some pretty uncomfortable sex which wasn’t what I was expecting in something billed as a dystopia. I was disappointed by how abstract and unrealized the world-building was for the dystopian world. The explanation comes far too late and was super predictable.

This book is the first time in my life that I’d have preferred a more linear storytelling. This felt obtuse and convoluted for the sake of it. I’m disappointed because I think there’s a good story here; it’s just not told very well and doesn’t have a sharp enough focus.

I remember enjoying Strange Weather in Tokyo and Nakano Thrift Shop but the author’s recent works have disappointed me. While this was more enjoyable than Third Love, it wasn’t great.