قصة الكتاب :
Shinchōsha (Shinchō Bunko), 2003. 362 pp. ¥550. ISBN 978-4-
10-134915-2.
Shigematsu Kiyoshi
Born in Okayama Prefecture in 1963. Began writing after working
for a publishing company. Became an author with Bifoa ran [Before
Run] in 1991. In 1999 won the Tsubota Jōji Literary Prize for Naifu
[Knife] and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize for Eiji. Won the 2001
Naoki Prize for Bitamin F and the 2010 Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for
Literature for Jūjika [Cross]. His other works include Aoi tori [The
Blue Bird], Ponī tēru [Ponytail], Zetsumetsu shōnen [Extinct Children],
and Hitorikko dōmei [Alliance of Only Children].

This series of seven short stories focuses on the contemporary Japanese family. All
of the stories in this extremely well-made collection by a skilled author are cleverly
structured, with engaging plots. More than anything, they all display a superb
craftsmanship in leaving a deep impression of the fathers who appear in them.
While the author has coined the term “vitamin F” with various meanings in mind,
it most clearly calls to mind “family.” The stories concern men in their late thirties
and forties, approaching middle age. They are ordinary people who have families,
own small homes in new towns in the suburbs of Tokyo, and earn their living as
diligent office workers, trying to be good husbands and fathers at the same time.
Somehow, though, they never succeed in this last task.
The families depicted are not necessarily happy, and communication between
family members is not necessarily smooth—a girl is unable to open up to her
parents about the bullying she is suffering at school, for instance, and a father is
never told anything important by his daughter. But a deep sense of affection runs
through all of the stories, deriving from the author’s warm view of humanity. Even
if the family bonds come to a breakdown, family love is still important. This is
what Shigematsu Kiyoshi is telling us. (NM)