On October 13, 2021, Japanese writer Motosuke Yamamoto died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 58.
Even if you haven't heard Yamamoto's name, you've probably heard a quote from her best-selling work, Blue, Another Blue:
There must be another me in this world, doing things that I dare not do, living the life I want to live.
A sister in her early 40s in the circle of friends said: "I was fortunate to meet Yamamoto in the years when I just entered the threshold of 30 years old. ”
When she was 30 years old, she was doing a somewhat tired job, no boyfriend, the peers around her had started a family, anxiety must be there, and she saw a book called "What About 31 Years Old?" " is just right for the mood of the moment.
This is a collection of short stories, the author wrote about 31 31-year-old people, there are people who have never been in love, people who have just divorced, people who have lost love, people who are unemployed, people who are confused...
"After reading it, accept the possibility of life, accept the variety of life, and be less anxious."
It's not just "What About 31?" Connecting the titles of several books in Yamamoto constitutes a history of the growth of a 30-year-old woman:
"Love Poisoning", "All the Women in the World Are Married?" "What about 31 years old?" "Then, I'll be alone", "Everything, leave it to time"...
Every bit of confusion and confusion from youth invincible to maturing maturity can be found in her books.
Yamamoto is like every ordinary girl, with a mediocre appearance and mediocre grades,
The only thing I insist on doing is that I have always had the habit of keeping a diary.
After graduating from college, the salary was not high, and she wanted to find a side job to increase her income, just when the girl's novel was selling well, and many literary magazines were collecting manuscripts, she read a lot of novels and tried to write by herself.
At the same time as she began writing novels, she also got married.
Because writing consumed a lot of energy, she gave up her original job, and the marriage slowly developed problems, and eventually led to divorce.
Thirty-one years old, I make a living by writing novels, but I can't be self-sufficient in income.
After moving out of the apartment where she lived with her husband, she could only go back to her mother's house and sleep in her brother's room on the second floor.
Eat food in your mother's refrigerator and write novels. I'm a completely single rice bug.
Having experienced ups and downs, I have a deeper insight into marriage and women's hearts.
In her novels, there is no romantic plot like an idol drama, no fairy tale of princes and princesses, only ordinary people struggling in ordinary work and trivial life.
They will be irritable about squeezing the subway, they will continue to work part-time after work in order to support their families, they will feel lonely for walking alone in the bustling city, and they will disguise themselves to cope with interpersonal relationships...
Some say her novels are like Kore-eda's films, plain and warm, calm and healing.
She is in "What About 31?" It is written: "At the age of 31, I have long passed the age of youth that can squander unlimited vitality and passion, but I am not as old as I can't walk, I am too old to slag, and I can't take care of myself."
In this watershed between Shaohua and vicissitudes, after experiencing the Pepsi of life, it gradually tends to mature and stabilize the years. ”
There is a story in the book called "Solitude".
The girl worked in a company for 8 years and was notoriously withdrawn and unsociable.
"I don't hate being with people, I'm just not good at chatting and socializing," she says. ”
When a colleague got married and asked her to pay the gift, she blurted out: "I don't go to the wedding, I don't go to the stall, and I won't pay the gift." ”
She only has two good friends, and friends know that she doesn't like to chat and use text messages to contact everything.
She submitted her resignation letter to the Minister, who said:
"You have a strong ability to work, but you have only participated in one employee tour in your first year, never participated in the year-end dinner and the old and the new, with your personality, no matter where you go, you can't go anywhere, don't think you can be alone." 」
The girl gladly accepted that her life credo was:
If you don't like it, you don't like it, I never ask others for forgiveness, and I don't live by everyone.
I only laugh when I think it's funny. Thinking of this world is so simple, I can't close my mouth with a smile.
If a single 31-year-old girl doesn't have to be flattered and can live according to her wishes, then those who choose to marry early are doomed to take another path to find themselves.
Meifan's parents often quarreled when she was a child, and after graduating from high school, she went to Tokyo to study and rushed to leave her family.
In Tokyo, she met her husband, who was studying medicine like herself, opened her own dental clinic, bought a self-contained house, and lived a middle-class life in the metropolis.
Worried that her husband was in the hospital and the nurses were frowning, she simply quit her job in the hospital and returned to her family in a huge emptiness.
She called her ex-boyfriend and deliberately asked him to call when her husband was home, so she successfully provoked her husband and decided to divorce him.
Mei Fan had to return to her hometown, unexpectedly,
The noisy parents of their youth suddenly became affectionate in their old age, taking care of each other, understanding each other, and speaking surprisingly politely.
She also has a younger brother who runs a wholesale fish pulp business at the market.
One day, the staff in my brother's shop asked for leave and asked her to come to the store to help.
She saw her pregnant siblings busy in the shop, much fatter and uglier than the bride at the wedding, but they lived a down-to-earth life like their parents.
In the market full of fishy smell and noise, she secretly thought:
When I left this city to escape this life, now looking at them, why is there envy again?
"I once crossed the mountains and the sea, and also crossed the sea of people, until I found that the ordinary is the only answer", it is this mood.
Mrs. Zober already had three children at the age of 31, her son was 10 years old, tall and handsome, she thought she had a good relationship with the child, and when other parents complained that when the child played games, if they talked to him, he would impatiently say: "Shut up, old lady!" ”
Mrs. Zober was relieved that although her son did not like to talk, he was not so rebellious.
She was a tough woman, married at the age of 19 to her husband who graduated from college and drove a big truck, and they built a happy little family with their own hands, because the children transferred schools and moved to a new community.
She joined the community's "Moms Volleyball Team", where she was the youngest wife and the strongest player.
There was a Nara lady on the team who was not interested in volleyball, who was always absent-minded, and Mrs. Zoebo reminded her and corrected her movements again and again.
During the training, a ball landed on Mrs. Zobo's head, and she jumped up and slammed the ball without thinking, and with a "bang", the ball hit Mrs. Nara's face impartially.
After returning home, she had dinner with her family as usual, looked at the young male idol on TV, looked at her handsome son, and said casually: "Mom thinks you are much more handsome than him, you are so smart, singing and listening well..."
"It's dead."
The son whispered.
Mrs. Zoebo wondered if she had heard it wrong, and for a moment the six gods were unowned.
"I heard in cram school that you used volleyball to bully the mother of a Nara classmate. I hated that my mom would tell me to play soccer one moment and call me on TV the next. I'm not a kid anymore, don't bother me. The son said indignantly.
Children grow up unconsciously, when they are no longer obedient and obedient, when they dare to say the word "no" to their parents.
At the same 31-year-old, some people are agonizing over the singleness of the mother's womb, some people are already worried about the rebellion of their children; some people are learning to "fake laugh professionally", and some people have learned not to please anymore.
There is a poem that says:
New York time is three hours ahead of California time, but California time hasn't slowed down.
Some people graduate at 22 but wait five years to find a good job;
Some people become CEOs at the age of 25 and die at the age of 50.
Everyone in the world has their own time zone of development.
Some people seem to be ahead of you, and others seem to be walking behind you.
Life is about waiting for the right time to act,
You're not behind. You're not leading.
In your own time zone, which fate has arranged for you, everything is on time.
Author | Kale, write other people's stories well, live your own life.
Image | Visual China