Heaven: A Novel

The narrator’s stepmother accidentally injures herself while washing a kitchen knife. She is taken to the hospital by an ambulance and when the narrator asks if he should inform his father, his stepmother says not to bother trying. She later returns with stitches, just in time for dinner. She is exhausted by the suddenness of her accident, so the narrator prepares their food. While eating, the narrator’s stepmother floats the possibility of divorcing his father, who is never home anymore. The narrator acknowledges her decision. He also tells her about the possibility of getting corrective surgery for his eye. She tells him to take his time to think it over.

Kojima breaks off contact with the narrator. He writes several letters to ask if they can meet, but she ignores him. She also becomes skinnier by the day. One day, she finally writes to him, telling him to meet her that Saturday at the park where they first met.

That same Saturday, the narrator’s father returns home, behaving as though nothing is wrong. The narrator, his father, and his stepmother are mostly silent that morning. The narrator is disgusted by his father’s behavior. Both his parents leave the house separately after lunch, and the narrator masturbates to relax before going to see Kojima. Unsatisfied after his first ejaculation, he masturbates again; this time, he thinks about Kojima. He fantasizes about kissing her outside the art museum and giving her a bath. Once he is finished, he is so exhausted that he falls asleep, causing him to be late for his appointment with Kojima.

When he meets her, the narrator tries to explain that what he had said during their last meeting was a misunderstanding. He reaches out for Kojima’s hand, but she doesn’t give it to him. Soon, Momose, Ninomiya, and the other bullies show up. They claim to know about the relationship between the narrator and Kojima; Ninomiya suggests that they had forced Kojima to write the letter asking the narrator to meet. Ninomiya tells the narrator to have sex with Kojima in front of everybody. The narrator momentarily panics, remembering his sexual fantasies from earlier. Then, he tells Ninomiya that they’ve never had sex. The bullies throw him around, but the narrator manages to hold on to Kojima. As the bullies tease them, the narrator realizes that this particular torment is his fault, since he has written her so many letters.

The narrator tries to take responsibility for the correspondence, telling the bullies to let Kojima go. He appeals to Momose for help, using his logic to point out that it makes no difference whether they are bullied or not. The bullies tear off his clothes. Ninomiya orders the others to take Kojima’s clothes off as well. It starts to rain, so Ninomiya urges them to hurry up. The narrator picks up a rock and feels himself wrestling with Momose’s philosophy in his mind. Just when the narrator thinks that he can’t bring himself to do it, Kojima holds his arm to stop him. She slowly takes off her clothes, smiling at Ninomiya. She starts laughing with great effort, reaching out for the faces of each of Ninomiya’s followers. They are scared off and run away from the park, leaving only Ninomiya and Momose behind.

As Kojima reaches out for Ninomiya’s face, the narrator begins to see Kojima and Momose’s philosophies coming together into a more complex worldview. Their voices tell him that if he really believes in the way Kojima sees the world, he has to commit to it enough so that he can overpower those who think differently. The narrator looks at Ninomiya, who is unable to move as Kojima touches his face. She moves on to Momose, but Ninomiya grapples her to the ground in rage. The narrator goes to her just as a stranger comes to investigate the scuffle. Ninomiya and Momose flee. The stranger, a woman, asks what happened to them, but the narrator focuses on trying to make sure that Kojima is alright. She is unresponsive as the narrator calls out her name. Eventually, she is wrapped in a blanket and taken away. The narrator explains that he “never had another friend like her. She was the only one” (159).

The narrator’s stepmother cares for him while he recovers from the incident. She tells him that she will listen to anything he wants to tell her. He explains how he has been bullied at school for years, and she tells him that he doesn’t have to go back. Next, he explains his dilemma over getting eye surgery. He reveals that his birth mother also had a lazy eye. The narrator’s stepmother tells him that she assumed that his lazy eye was something he connected to his birth mother, but she also encourages him to go through with the surgery.

They go to the hospital together to initiate intake procedures. The narrator expresses that he doesn’t know why he is going through with the surgery. The doctor reminds him that “people are always changing” (164), and he says that the narrator will eventually adjust to his eyesight well enough to forget how it used to be.

The surgery is successful and the narrator stays at the hospital overnight. While his stepmother is picking up her insurance card at the hospital, the narrator walks down a street and pulls off his bandage. He weeps at the beauty of the world around him and realizes his solitude in the presence of such beauty.