Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder

A Book Review...

I read The Memory Police by Ogawa in 2022, which I enjoyed quite a bit and highly recommend. If you didn’t know, this book is being adapted for film. Earlier this year we got news that Lily Gladstone will star in this film (LOVE HER!) So I was excited to hear about Mina’s Matchbox having loved The Memory Police so much.

In Mina’s Matchbox, we follow 12-year-old Tomoko, who has left her mother, a recent widow, to stay with the family of her mother’s sister. Everything about this side of her family and where they live is completely foreign to Tomoko. But she meets her younger cousin Mina and they build a friendship that carries her through her time with them.

Before I met her, matches were nothing more than matches, in my view. But from the first time she produced a matchbox in my presence, I realized that they could become a kind of silent ritual, a devout prayer.

I think Mina’s Matchbox is worth reading. I also realized how much I enjoy Ogawa’s writing. I now feel compelled to read all of her books that have been translated into English. I think there are four other books.

Have you read anything from Yoko Ogawa? What did you think?