Emi Yagi, who won Japan's coveted Osamu Dazai Prize with Diary of a Void, returns with another delightfully surreal novel, When the Museum Is Closed. Yuki Tejima smoothly translates, capturing Yagi's impressively matter-of-fact tone as inexplicably zany events continue to happen with unquestioning, quotidian ease.
Rika Horauchi is starting her new job: She's "been hired to talk to the ancient Roman statue of Venus" in the octagonal room of the titular museum every Monday, when doors are closed to the public. Despite Rika's initial hesitation, Venus is quite engaging, bitingly funny, and surprisingly accommodating. And despite the distraction of "her lush body curved to perfection," conversations with the goddess of love and beauty grow easier, especially since Venus "never [runs] out of memories." Rika, too, opens up, and over cups of tea (the one in front of Venus untouched), statue and human share endless stories.
Since childhood, "a ridiculous yellow raincoat" has hampered Rika's life. No one else can see it, but it weighs her down, trips her up, turns into a "sauna suit" causing heat rashes; avoidance and isolation are her best defense. Becoming intimate with a marble statue, however, proves a transformative experience.
Yagi has written a whimsical tale highlighting unexpected relationships--particularly those where one is finally seen and heard honestly, regardless of whether as a coveted goddess or ostracized human. As a slim novella, When the Museum Is Closed might seem initially spare but it's rife with insights on language, communication, love, identity, definitions of beauty, gender roles, and the possibility of true individual freedom. --Terry Hong