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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
idk y i keep finishing book that i can’t get into — i felt like i was reading words on a page
Its a beautifully written book, but there's zero plot. It's closer to a memoir than a story. Literally I accidentally left the audiobook running for an hour and came back and couldn't tell Id missed anything.
i just didn’t enjoy this book. i think it was a mix of the story getting lost in translation, me not liking books with male narrators/characters, and not knowing all the geography of japan.
this book kinda just felt like it was listing places in japan over and over :(
this book kinda just felt like it was listing places in japan over and over :(
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The perfect book for me to read as my cat slowly drifted away in my arms.
Sad and beautiful, with an eye to the tent city people at Ueno station. Worth it just for the complex attitude towards the Imperial family. This packs so much into a tiny little book, and felt like a new, but old voice in Japanese lit (returning to the harsher realisms of Osamu and Oe).
You all know how I feel about fiction, it's been so hard for me to get into lately, but I was drawn into this small novel which is a translation of the original Japanese written by Yu Miri. The protagonist has a string of bad luck that leads him to a life as a ghost haunting a park where he once lived as a person experiencing homelessness. The story left me with many questions, and I fear there was much lost in translation around grieving, burial rituals, and religious experiences though the cruel realities of capitalism translated. I would be open to revisiting this book as I continue to learn more about Japanese culture. The story moved nicely through the short book, I was just left with many questions and I don't like to be so unresolved by the end of a book especially a work of fiction that requires different research to try to fill in gaps.
it's been so long since i read this but i absolutely adored it. read it while i was in japan and it was extremely special and devastating