A Chinese woman and her elderly mother have a holiday in Japan where they do touristy things and then go home. That’s honestly it. Jessica Au’s Cold Enough for Snow might be the most boring novella ever written.
I kept waiting for the near-comatose prose to reveal a point - anything - as to why this novel was published to begin with, but no. It really is just a dull woman relating the most ordinary of trips in the blandest, most lifeless possible way.
Occasionally she mentions things about her past like working in a restaurant during university and that she enjoyed studying literature at university, or she’ll mention an anecdote about her boring uncle or even more boring, most non-character ever, mother doing something like buying ice-cream. What does any of this rubbish mean? Who knows. Who cares! Not me.
It’s almost like a parody of what you expect when you think of Literary Fiction: tedium and dreariness masquerading as profundity and depth. And it’s just nothing. Cold Enough for… zzz… is instantly forgettable “fiction”. Utterly pointless, unimpressive crap from start to finish. I recommend reading something more exciting like a dishwasher instruction manual or squinting at some clouds to see if they form letters instead.
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