“Hey, Ren,” she said softly, “I’m going to call every week, I promise. So you won’t be lonely.”
“Who says I’m lonely?” And I didn’t believe she would call every week, but she kept her promise until the day she died.
Keiko Ishida, you were such a liar. You would have been better off staying in Tokyo. And you told me we were going to be fine.
Rainbirds
The story opens with Ren arriving in the small town of Akakawa, not far from Tokyo, where his sister Keiko was living before she was murdered. He has come to collect her belongings from the room she rented and the school she worked in, and to collect her ashes. But when he arrives he feels a pull to stay in Akakawa to try and understand why his sister suddenly left Tokyo one day to come to this small and empty town. As a soon-to-be graduate in the same field as his sister, the school where she worked offers him Keiko’s old position which he takes in order to be able to stay. He also moves into her old room in a well-known politician’s house, helping to look after his wife as Keiko had done.
The longer Ren stays, the more he gets to know different characters of the town and their stories. Such as the politician and his wife who are grieving the death of their young daughter; his fellow teacher, Honda, who insists on driving Ren everywhere whilst providing him with advice; and also one of his students who he gives the nickname of ‘Seven Stars’. All the while, Ren is reminiscing about his sister and their childhood in Tokyo, slowly uncovering what happened to make her leave so abruptly to Akakawa and ultimately, what led to her death.
But it is not a murder mystery. It’s a slow and thoughtful story about grieving and coming to terms with the loss of someone important in your life. Keiko looked after Ren when he was child, cooking for him every day as their parents were never home, and after she left she rang him every week to talk to him about his life. One very moving scene in the book depicts Ren going to the spot where Keiko died and lying there as the rain pours down on him, as it did that night, to try and feel how she must have felt in her dying moments.
My sister should have been able to guess nobody would come in this kind of weather. She would have known she was about to die. What was on her mind in those final moments? …Had she thought about me?
Since the day my sister had left Tokyo, I’d hoped for her return, but I’d never told her that. Had I been too proud, or too indifferent? If I’d asked her to come back, would she still be alive?
Rainbirds
One of the things I enjoyed most about the book is the descriptions of food and the meaning of it in Ren’s life. It his connection to his sister, but also to the politician’s wife, to Honda and Seven Stars. From curry rice, to packets of ramen noodles eaten in-between lessons, lunch boxes of steaming pork and eating teriyaki burgers at McDonald’s, through eating Ren develops bonds with those around him and his past.
It is a beautifully written book that takes a hold of the heart. Best enjoyed with a steaming portion of curry rice.
Luggage & Scribble 