They pulled my head back by my hair, pushed two chalks deep into my nose, and made me eat the third one. Ninomiya and his friends watched, laughing like crazy. By then, I had been forced to swallow water from the toilet bowl, a goldfish...

Japan, early 1990s. A fourteen-year-old boy with strabismus is subjected to relentless torture by his classmates. Instead of resisting or seeking help, he remains silent. Kojima, who also faces humiliating behaviors, is the only classmate who talks to him.

The "modern queen of Japanese literature" (The Japan Times) Mieko Kawakami (b. 1976) brings us a shocking story of school bullying, focusing on both the victims and the perpetrators.