The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida

1
Like a Long-Lost Friend
March 15th, 1989
 
I met Miwako Sumida at a goukon organized by Toshi, a friend of mine.
      I had never been interested in group dates. They were desperate measures for desperate people, but Toshi was desperate. He d been trying to gain the attention of a pretty, short-haired girl in his swimming club. I didn t want to ruin his excitement, but the girl had probably agreed to come because Jin our other friend, popular and a total charmer would be there. Toshi and I had been hanging out since our first year at Waseda, so I felt obliged to participate.
      The goukon was scheduled for noon at a family restaurant near our campus. At a quarter past twelve, the girls were still nowhere to be seen. We ordered milkshakes and continued to wait, listening to Oricon singles from the restaurant s only speaker.
       Are you sure those girls haven t ditched us? Jin teased Toshi.
       Don t say that; they re just late. Toshi tapped his fingers on the table. They ll be here any second.
       No matter what, you re picking up the tab like you promised. We ll give them another five minutes before we order food.
       Shut up.
      Yawning, I gazed out the window. Wet leaves sparkled in the bright sunlight. It had poured yesterday afternoon and all night, but the rain had stopped right when I d left the house that morning. The scent of fresh soil lingered, mixed with the fragrance of plum blossoms.
      Suddenly, Toshi stood and waved. I turned toward the door and saw three girls walking toward our table.
      The one in front was the beautiful freshman Toshi was after, and the two girls behind her were a study in opposites. One had long, silky black hair and a serious

Clarissa Goenawan is an Indonesian-born Singaporean writer. Her award-winning short fiction has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies in Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US. Rainbirds, her first novel, has been published in fourteen different languages.

Praise for The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida

A novel in three voices about the inner turmoil and beauty that people keep walled behind flawless surfaces.
Tiffany Tsao, author of The Oddfits and The Majesties

An exquisite tale about the way secrets shape and transform young lives. Behind Goenawan s crisp, spare prose lies a world of emotional complexity.  
Mira T. Lee, award winning author of Everything Here Is Beautiful

Vivid and intriguing an elegantly cryptic, poetically plotted Murakami-esque whydunit.
Sharlene Teo, award winning author of Ponti

From the first page of Clarissa Goenawan s The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida, we know that the titular Miwako has taken her own life, but we don t know why. This same question plagues Miwako s close friends as they grieve her death and search for answers. In this elegant and haunting novel, Goenawan deftly explores the messiness of grief, the pain of lost chances, and the way a life can collapse under the weight of secrets. Miwako and her friends are under my skin, and I ll be thinking about them for some time.
Kathleen Barber, author of Truth Be Told and Follow Me

As three stories interlink, rich plot, description, and dialogue make this fiction seem like reality. While readers may be aware they're not a part of the novel, through Goenawan's enthralling writing, they will nonetheless become immersed in her fictional world.
Budi Darma

A compelling protagonist . . . Like Japanese brush painting, the author s simple, clear prose captures Miwako s vulnerability and complexity. Also vividly drawn are Fumi and Chie, each having built their own unusual protective personas that are gradually revealed. An eerie and elegant puzzle.
Kirkus Reviews 

Tender and tragic . . . Goenawan s luminous