Clarissa Goenawan’s sophomore novel, The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida, is a quietly powerful meditation on the destructive power of secrets, as well as the power of truth to heal even beyond death. These themes are also strongly present in her first novel, Rainbirds, and because the two novels are tangentially linked by certain characters’ relationships, I decided to read both. You can read The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida without first reading Rainbirds, but both books are so good that you won’t want to miss either of them, regardless of the order in which you read them.
Goenawan’s The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida opens with a death. The death, in fact, of the titular Miwako. After abruptly leaving college to volunteer in a distant, rural medical clinic, Miwako tragically takes her own life. Her friends are devastated and can barely believe she would do such a thing. Yet each knows a portion of her secrets, the pain she kept hidden beneath her smile. They blame themselves for not shouldering those secrets, but in coming together they might be able to find peace for themselves and Miwako at last.
The book follows Ryu, Chie, and Fumi, three of Miwako’s most important friends. Ryu, the first, is also hopelessly in love with Miwako. He has declared his love to her directly, but she puts him off by citing the importance of their friendship. And they do have a lovely friendship, based on a shared love of used books, their studies, and a little stray cat they rescue. But what is really preventing Miwako from starting a relationship is buried in her past. And no matter how much Ryu shares about his own troubled and tragic past, Miwako can’t bring herself to open up in return.
Chie and Miwako are, on the surface, unlikely BFFs, but their friendship makes perfect sense once we understand how both of them long for a deeper connection. Once a bit of an outsider, Chie has taught herself how to be a normal, even popular girl, but she still feels alienated from her peers. It’s forthright, seemingly-cold Miwako who finally makes Chie feel like she can be herself. Both are acting their way through high school, concealing secret worlds in their writing and imaginations. It’s wonderful to see the way this deep female friendship blossoms, and heartbreaking to see the way Chie goes chasing after the threads of it when that bond is severed.
Fumi is another young woman with a secret, and she and Miwako get along because they share a blunt and direct way of dealing with others. Fumi ends up taking Miwako on as an apprentice in her painting studio, even though Miwako shows more enthusiasm than aptitude. Miwako repeatedly tries to use art to reach inward and reach out, but she’s unable to give full voice to what she has suffered. Nor do Fumi’s secrets and tragic past comfort Miwako.
It’s not that art, relationships, or shared suffering are “not enough.” The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida portrays loyal friends, respectful love interests, and support from all corners. Sometimes trauma is unbearable. It’s not a reason to give up on people, but it’s also not a reason to assign blame when tragedy strikes.
It literally takes a supernatural intervention for Miwako to find the relief she was always seeking, and for her friends to find a measure of peace. A supernatural event also strongly affects Chie, and a visit to a temple brings Ryu strength. Far from being pat, these interactions affirm that the world we see, even with all its facades, is not a perfect one. Yet the book says strongly that there is still reconciliation possible with the dead. It requires acceptance and forgiveness, two very difficult feats to accomplish.
All the characters are looking for forgiveness for the things they did or didn’t do with regard to either Keiko or Miwako’s deaths, but the dead cannot absolve the living. Goenawan makes clear that it’s an internal process rather than a transactional interaction, apology for forgiveness. Fumi and Ren in particular seek out the people who wronged them, but can’t offer forgiveness when they finally receive apologies. Apologies are not the means of finding peace, after all. It’s internal alchemy of dreams, understanding, and compassion that drive the forgiveness that can encompass the living and the dead alike.
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
From the critically acclaimed author of Rainbirds comes a novel of tragedy and dark histories set in Japan.
University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from?
To Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda; Chie, Miwako’s best friend; and Fumi, Ryusei’s older sister, Miwako was more than the blunt, no-nonsense person she projected to the world. Heartbroken, Ryusei begs Chie to take him to the village where Miwako spent her final days. While he is away, Fumi receives an unexpected guest at their shared apartment in Tokyo, distracting her from her fear that Miwako’s death may ruin what is left of her brother’s life.
Expanding on the beautifully crafted world of Rainbirds, Clarissa Goenawan gradually pierces through a young woman’s careful façade, unmasking her most painful secrets.
