You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

3.48 AVERAGE

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
informative reflective sad

A devastating contemplation of regret from the perspective of a ghost haunting Ueno subway station. A social history of the surrounding Ueno Park and neighbourhood--with a forgotten mass grave--recounted by unhoused elders who formed an encampment there. A nonlinear accounting of how the shaping of a contemporary Tokyo meant waves of loss for the city's most precarious residents. Main character Kazu helped build Olympics infrastructure,
only for it to lead to his displacement
. He found solace in a granddaughter
only for a tsunami to sweep her away
. His life milestones share overlap with the imperial family, setting a sharp contrast between their wealth and his deprivation, diverging only due to coincidence and circumstances of birth. How he died was a gut-punch that tied him to his geography and brought the story fully into focus. 
emotional informative reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What I expected (naively) to be a lighthearted book was a beautiful and haunting tale of a tragic life. The narrator tells his life story in discontinuity from beyond the grave, detailing his two lives - the first as a laborer supporting his family and the second as a homeless man in Ueno Park. Miri's use of repetition and interjection is powerful, and I found myself touched by the futility of the narrator's struggle to keep trying to live.
dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I thought it was a really interesting read but I just couldn’t get super involved in it as much as I want to; it was interesting learning about the homeless population of Japan tho

3.5
dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes