In Japan, this book tells us, children under the age of three are regarded as gods. At their third birthday, then, they lose this divinity and join the rest of us.

This book follows the progress of one small girl through those first years and to the point of that exquisite loss. An interesting point of view, to be sure.

Strangely, the small girl in question has a number of initial oddities, ones that are never really explored through the second half of the book. Both parts are a diverting read, but the disconnect between the two is a little unsettling, as though she’d written two really great half-books and then decided they fit together well enough to make a great novella. On the whole, though, I enjoyed it a great deal, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.