by Aoko Matsuda
Europa Editions, Paperback, £14.99
What I love about short stories is that they can lightly slip into the crack of everyday hectic-ness. One day, Aoko Matsuda, the author of Where the Wild Ladies Are — witty, uncanny, feminist tales rewriting Japanese folklore, winner of the 2021 World Fantasy Award Best Collection — while at a hair salon, heard the hair dresser saying she was too busy to read a book at all. Matsuda thought, what if she would write many short, short stories, then?*
That’s how the world is gifted this book: a dazzling, playful collection of fifty-two stories, The Woman Dies. Some stories in the collection are short. Other stories in the collection are very short.
I read the original Japanese copy of this book four years ago: At that time, I was disbelieving in the world and the book worked for me as an oxygen cylinder. I would describe this book as, instead of breathtaking, breath-allowing.
Humorous, critical, and satirical, Matsuda writes as if blasting everyday sexism whilst humming.
And look at the cover — she will never die!
The Woman Dies, a short story that also titles the whole collection, shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson Award in 2019, criticizes the representation of women in fiction.** The writing style with a lot of repetition is edgy, and Matsuda’s skill is to depict the real through the surreal sparks.
Victoria’s Secret is also my favourite; only Aoko Matsuda has ever turned the name of a lingerie brand to a story of teenage queer awakening and fatigue.
The whole collection is translated by Polly Barton, who also translated Butter by Asako Yuzuki, the acclaimed feminist novel from Japan. What I see as Matsuda’s uniqueness is the marbling that conveys all the hilarity, subtle sorrow, and sharp criticism. Despite of the difference in the nature of the languages, the translation by Barton sincerely and creatively carries them. (In English, some of the satire feel even sharper.)
And it’s worth mentioning that the book includes a series of commentaries by Matsuda herself, which is also like another series of short shorts. I love them.
Let your mind be stunned and wonder, because we need to breathe.
Reviewed by Yuka
*
Reference: https://news.line.me/detail/oa-kateigaho/hlb20npya2v6 (Written and published in Japanese, Interview to Aoko Matsuda: For Fiction and Translation with an Introduction to Three Self-curated Books, retrieved on 8/10/2025)
**
The Woman Dies was shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson Award in 2019 following its publication on Granta online in 2018. It was originally published in Japanese in the collection The Year of No Wild Flowers in 2016.