[5] The book follows the lives of several characters in a neighborhood through twenty-six stories, specifically focusing on the mundane, quotidian details about their experiences.

[7]The New York Times appreciated how "Kawakami's style traffics in brevity, giving us images distilled to their core, sentences that go directly to the heart" while also commending the book for its "brightness, a kind of love and familiarity.

[2] Waxwing Literary Journal argued that "the communal nature of the narration" helped bind the collection together.

[9] Similarly, The Brooklyn Rail wrote that "It's this idea of community that is at the heart of this series of stories: over years and through events both strange and mundane, the narrator shows us the essential interconnectedness of life in her neighborhood and all those who live there.

[11] Meanwhile, the Chicago Review of Books lamented that "the collection lacks cohesion despite featuring recurring characters".