Short and with a simple but direct prose, wonderfully translated by Alison Watts, Sweet Bean Paste is a story as sweet as the title would imply, making for an idyllic little read. In Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, an unlikely friendship between an formerly incarcerated confectionary shop worker, the 78 year old woman he hires and a troubled teen girl becomes an emotional investigation into stigmas around identity and health and demonstrates that the only thing shameful about them are the stigmas themselves. Social stigmas are an oppressive force, particularly in societies when one’s value is often determined by the profitability of one’s labor for others. ‘ We are born in order to see and listen to the world.’
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