My Take- Ms Ice Sandwich

 

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami is a heart-warming tale told through the perspective of a fourth grader unnamed boy. Kawakami employs the stream of consciousness narrative technique to apprehend the thought process of the little protagonist. The eponymous Ms Ice Sandwich is a salesgirl who works at a sandwich stall in the local supermarket. This innocuously plain description suggests that Ms Ice Sandwich could be any ordinary girl, who we come across daily but don’t spare any thought on her. But Ms Ice Sandwich is different from the ‘normal,’ in that her face bears the testimony of a failed plastic surgery, which draws attention towards her but not in a good way.

            She is treated as a weirdo and freak because of her ‘abnormal’ face, but what is worse is that some people go to the extent of declaring that she ought to die because her ‘abnormal’ face repels them. However, our little protagonist is fascinated by her unusual face; in fact he finds nothing wrong with her, and rather he greatly admires her ‘non-normal’ face.

The novella with its wonderful and subtle description of a child’s thought took me on a reminiscing trip of my childhood, thereby proving that all childhood experiences are universal. I especially loved the bond that the protagonist shares with his paralysed grandma and Tutti, the episode describing the origin of her nickname left me in splits. Reading this book felt like reading a personal diary of a child, filled with strange yet cute anecdotes about school, friends and life in general. The conversations between the protagonist and Tutti, especially the one about people who disappear, were so profound that I felt amazed how fourth graders could comprehend the essence of life better than most of us adults.

            The novella deals with sensitive topics such as death, losing touch with people who once were the significant parts of our life, accepting and finding beauty in things that are not ‘normal’ in an extremely delicate and subtle yet impactful manner. I admired the resilience of Ms Ice Sandwich, who decided to face the cruel world rather than running away from its taunts. It is a simple yet profound book, meant for both adults and children; for this book offers something to all its readers. After I completed reading, I was left with a bittersweet taste like I have said final goodbyes to people who had come really close to my heart, but then I remembered Tutti’s words, heaved a sigh and said Al Pacino to Tutti and our protagonist, glad that our paths crossed in this huge wide world.

My Rating: 5⭐

My favourite lines from the book:

“The worst thing is, you never know when somebody’s going to just disappear.”


 

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