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lavenive's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
Katanya ada orang-orang di dunia ini yang tidak pernah senang dengan apa yang dilakukan orang lain.
Buku ini bercerita tentang Shoko Sekine dan 'Shoko Sekine'. Honma, seorang detektif yang sedang cuti dimintai tolong oleh keponakannya Jun untuk mencarikan tunangannya yang tiba-tiba menghilang. Waktu dilakukan penyelidikan, Shoko Sekine tunangan Jun ternyata bukanlah Shoko.
Pencarian jejak tunangan Jun tidak berhenti disana, mungkin bagi Honma, sudah tercebur dalam 'kasus' ini kenapa tidak menyelesaikannya sampai akhir?
Aku menemukan satu typo, dan merasa alur cerita ini berjalan cukup lambat. Meski begitu, ceritanya tetap seru. Berkeliling Jepang mencari jejak seseorang, bertemu dengan banyak orang, banyak kesaksian, dan banyak kisah yang tertimbun sejak lama. Terselip juga pembahasan mengenai keuangan, pinjaman, kartu kredit, serta lingkaran setannya. Aku sudah siap memberikan tambahan setengah bintang, namun endingnya masih kurang memuaskan. Masih berharap ada lanjutannya, seperti apa yang dipikirkan detektif Honma masih banyak hal yang harus diceritakan mulai dari nyawa yang telah pegi, penantian dalam persembunyian dan perhatian yang didapatkan.
megatsunami's review
Um, I was gonna give this book 4 stars, because I liked it a lot, until I got to the ending. WTF? I don't care how postmodern you are, I don't want to read a mystery without a real ending.
rukmini's review
3.0
"Even here in Tokyo, a city that neuters everything, Osaka people managed to keep their own coloring. They might modify their drawl to a "standard textbook" Japanese, but their accent remained Osaka. It wasn't without its appeal, he had to admit."
erdeaka's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 bintang
idenya tidak bisa dibilang luar biasa atau istimewa, tapi alurnya sangat asyik buat diikuti dan perkembangan ceritanya sangat bagus, bahkan masih mendebarkan sampai akhir. dari sudut pandang saya, cerita ini bukan kisah detektif biasa dilihat dari bagaimana cara penulis mengolahnya. pokoknya beda sekali dengan novel-novel fiksi kriminal yang pernah saya baca.
idenya tidak bisa dibilang luar biasa atau istimewa, tapi alurnya sangat asyik buat diikuti dan perkembangan ceritanya sangat bagus, bahkan masih mendebarkan sampai akhir. dari sudut pandang saya, cerita ini bukan kisah detektif biasa dilihat dari bagaimana cara penulis mengolahnya. pokoknya beda sekali dengan novel-novel fiksi kriminal yang pernah saya baca.
natasha29singh's review against another edition
3.0
This is a good read. Miyabe writes extremely well and with a solid understanding of police procedure - it's also nice to read a book that steadily builds suspense and delivers on it with a satisfying but not implausible ending.
discomagpie's review
4.0
I gave this book 3.75/5 stars at InsatiableBooksluts.com.
Review excerpt:
"The book does drag a bit in a couple of spots–nothing terrible, but Miyabe goes to great lengths to explain Japan’s 1980′s credit crisis that caused an economic bubble, possibly a bit further than necessary to the plot of the story. She seems to want to impress upon readers that having had bad credit doesn’t give one bad character, which was surely an important message at the time, but borders on preachy now. She also explains the public systems of Japan at some length, such as work registry, health insurance, identification, and the like; I found this relevant to the plot, though, especially for us westerners that may not be familiar with how the Japanese system differs from ours, or how it differed from ours 20 years ago. It’s sort of like the forensics mysteries that sidetrack to tell you what they’re doing so you understand where they get the clues."
Read the full review at our site.
Review excerpt:
"The book does drag a bit in a couple of spots–nothing terrible, but Miyabe goes to great lengths to explain Japan’s 1980′s credit crisis that caused an economic bubble, possibly a bit further than necessary to the plot of the story. She seems to want to impress upon readers that having had bad credit doesn’t give one bad character, which was surely an important message at the time, but borders on preachy now. She also explains the public systems of Japan at some length, such as work registry, health insurance, identification, and the like; I found this relevant to the plot, though, especially for us westerners that may not be familiar with how the Japanese system differs from ours, or how it differed from ours 20 years ago. It’s sort of like the forensics mysteries that sidetrack to tell you what they’re doing so you understand where they get the clues."
Read the full review at our site.
cath_ryn's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
readivine's review
3.0
Finally, read the first book of my 2021! This was pretty interesting to read and I love the social commentary on the gravity of debts and consumerism. Yup, totally not the usual theme you'd see on Japanese crime fiction. I also don't think that this was a thriller, to be honest, but it's more of a slow burn trail of mystery-solving, so I do understand why the usual thrill-seeking reader won't enjoy this much.
I've also seen a lot of reviews complaining about why there has to be some sort of long-drawn-out almost Wikipedia-ish excerpt on the intricacies of the Japanese credit process and loan sharks (found in Chapter 11). I get the point that it was kind of boring to read or sounded straight from an academic study.
However, I honestly thought that this was an essential part of the book because it already introduced the root cause of the mystery in the first place. I felt like some readers were kind of out of touch to just lump this part as an unnecessary info dump because this is the reality of other people in different parts of the world. Personally, this resonated with me because I live in a lower middle class household where one accident or one loan can simply wipe out our financial foundation.
I appreciated the message that Miyabe fleshed out here. When you look at it, the translated title is quite an apt choice.
Now when it comes to the whole mystery unfolding, I liked the steady trail of clues. Though I've seen some minor typos and other parts where the POVs shifted all of a sudden. Totally not the author's fault but more so on the editing team. I believe that some parts may have been lost in translation that's why it kind of put off my reading experience sometimes.
Also, there were just some happenings and clues that seem quite implausible to reach. I personally enjoyed reading this though the ending sputtered for me. Nevertheless, All She Was Worth is something that I'm glad I've read at the right time of my life.
As an utterly "new" to adulting, my personal finance has been weighing on my mind so much these days, and reading about how worse it could get when not in check really felt like a piece of friendly advice for me. I've bought this a month ago and only read it on whim. Books could really surprise you in many ways you can never begin to imagine huh.
I've also seen a lot of reviews complaining about why there has to be some sort of long-drawn-out almost Wikipedia-ish excerpt on the intricacies of the Japanese credit process and loan sharks (found in Chapter 11). I get the point that it was kind of boring to read or sounded straight from an academic study.
However, I honestly thought that this was an essential part of the book because it already introduced the root cause of the mystery in the first place. I felt like some readers were kind of out of touch to just lump this part as an unnecessary info dump because this is the reality of other people in different parts of the world. Personally, this resonated with me because I live in a lower middle class household where one accident or one loan can simply wipe out our financial foundation.
"Debts drive people to suicide. They break up homes, force people to skip town...It sounds unbelievable in this day and age, but tragedies occur all the time, for sheer lack of knowledge about the ins and outs of personal bankruptcy."There's commentary on what drives consumerism as well that still rings true even to this day. I think that privileged readers who never get to experience the gravity of accumulated debt or don't live from paycheck to paycheck wouldn't really understand this.
I appreciated the message that Miyabe fleshed out here. When you look at it, the translated title is quite an apt choice.
Now when it comes to the whole mystery unfolding, I liked the steady trail of clues. Though I've seen some minor typos and other parts where the POVs shifted all of a sudden. Totally not the author's fault but more so on the editing team. I believe that some parts may have been lost in translation that's why it kind of put off my reading experience sometimes.
Also, there were just some happenings and clues that seem quite implausible to reach. I personally enjoyed reading this though the ending sputtered for me. Nevertheless, All She Was Worth is something that I'm glad I've read at the right time of my life.
As an utterly "new" to adulting, my personal finance has been weighing on my mind so much these days, and reading about how worse it could get when not in check really felt like a piece of friendly advice for me. I've bought this a month ago and only read it on whim. Books could really surprise you in many ways you can never begin to imagine huh.