Reviews

Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

a_smile's review against another edition

4.25

A book that breaks your hearth. The story of a man that sacrificed his life for the future of his family working all day every day from dusk till dawn. We meet him in death, lingering in the park where he died of old age. The story switches between memories of his life, to memories of conversations with a neighbour about different places in and near the park that are linked to Japans history and snippets of ‘now’, conversation overheard or signs that come into view. A small book that contains a lot. 

sudonabarton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

tessareadsbookies's review against another edition

2.0

It wasn’t that good

brittanyarmstrong's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

jemmacrosland's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

3.0

I was bought this as a gift and it was a cover-buy so I didn't know anything going into the story but I found this short novel very interesting, especially with the addition of the Author's Note at the end. I felt deeply about the characters and thought they were well-developed. I like the change in perspectives and times in Kazu's life showing how his life has changed over the years.
I wasn't anticipating the historical context of this book and perhaps this wasn't my favourite but I did find it easy to understand. The ending really pulled at my heartstrings, even if it was quite abrupt. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death

kristymarie's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

_oneinamil's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

quenchgum's review against another edition

3.0

A meaningful topic presented through a cool format that was probably better in theory than in execution.

Also, this book is a professional bummer. In the bad kind of way, too. Say what you will about Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life — was it trauma dumping? fucking with characters for easy emotional points? probably so — but at least I had known and loved those guys and so everything that went wrong in their lives was that special type of bittersweet, meaningful heart wrenching that only good art can accomplish. I finished that book and cried and wanted to tell my friends that I loved them. In comparison, the shit that went wrong in Tokyo Ueno Station fell flat. It just sucked.

FWIW, this is the first book I’d “read” as an audiobook, and it all happened during a 600 mile northbound stretch on I-95, so maybe I just wasn’t paying the right type of attention. It probably hits differently to a better listener.

cat_astrophicallybookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

coffeemybook's review against another edition

20ish pages in and it was too boring to continue. Granted, i read this as I was on my way to work, but still….