Sunrise: Radiant Stories

by Erika Kobayashi

Brian Bergstrom (Translator)

"A knockout." —Publishers Weekly (Starred review)

"A remarkable collection." —Kirkus Reviews

A collection of contemplative, lyrical stories examining the visible and invisible consequences of atomic power on Japanese society

Sunrise is a collection of interconnected stories continuing Erika Kobayashi’s examination of the effects of nuclear power on generations of women. Connecting changes to everyday life to the development of the atomic bomb, Sunrise shows us how the discovery of radioactive power has shaped our history and continues to shape our future.

In the opening, eponymous story “Sunrise,” Yoko, born exactly two years and one day after Nagasaki was decimated, mirrors her life to the development of nuclear power in Japan. In “Precious Stones,” four daughters take their elderly mother to the restorative waters of a radium spring, exchanging tales of immortality. In “Hello My Baby, Hello My Honey,” a woman goes into labor during the final days of WWII. And finally, “The Forest of Wild Birds” shows Erika visiting the site of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, touring grounds that were once covered in green.

Translator Brian Bergstrom returns in this collection, bringing to life Kobayashi’s unsettling, lasting, and striking prose. The stories in Sunrise force a reckoning with the lasting effects of known and unknown histories and asks how much of modern life is influenced by forces outside of our control.

• ISBN10: 1662601174
• ISBN13: 9781662601170
• Publish Date: 11 July 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 24 December 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Astra House
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781662601170

Reviews

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“This is ‘Welcome to New York,’ by Taylor Swift, from her album 1989.” 1989, the year Taylor Swift was born. The year the Showa Emperor died. The year I met Quartz. 

Already twenty‑seven years ago.

 

Thank you, NetGalley and Astra Publishing House, for the chance to read and review Sunrise by Erika Kobayashi. Sunrise comes out on the 11th of July and is 242 pages long.

 

Sunrise is a series of interrelated narratives that explores the impact of nuclear power on women across generations. The stories include phenomena such as people growing wings, the burning of last books, radioactive springs, and a degenerative illness that affects the mind initially. 

 

Kobayashi blends magical realism, folklore, and science fiction to create stories that cannot be found elsewhere. Each story bleeds into the other, with stories with a story, a style that I really appreciated. 

 

I understand for the first time that to die is to lose the ability to meet another’s gaze.

 

Overall, I loved this collection and’ll be checking out more by the author!