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alastorthewerewolf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
readsbymoonlight's review
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Someone turn this into a Ghibli movie or an anime stat
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death
shotzee's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It’s been years since I’ve read a book that’s brilliant in the way that this book is. easily cracked my top five favorite books. don’t hesitate just read it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
the_reading_wren's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book feels like a children’s book in the way things are over-explained (possibly the translation), and it seems like it was written simply for the author to get a message across. But the points made were interesting, particularly the discussions around the publishing industry and social status attached to reading. I’m glad I stuck with the book because it grew on me as the mystery developed and the background to the magic revealed near the end made me reflect on the story in a more heartfelt way.
“Reading a book is a lot like climbing a mountain.”
The overall messages I took away from this book were the one stated clearly - the power of books is to help us feel empathy and teach us to turn that into compassion. And not to resign myself to “it’s just how the world works” but to act true to myself.
“Reading a book is a lot like climbing a mountain.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia and Ableism
megj23's review
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death
qrschulte's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved the emphasis on the power of books and what it means to truly love books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Minor: Death
blues's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Non conoscevo questo libro prima di trovarmelo in mano, è stata una scoperta casuale fatta in biblioteca. L'ho trovato in un momento in cui leggere mi riusciva difficile e mi ha illuminato. Sento di aver imparato tanto da queste pagine e spero vivamente che l'autore abbia intenzione di pubblicare qualcos'altro. Lo stile del libro potrebbe risultare lento per alcuni, ma personalmente l'ho trovato azzeccatissimo con la storia e con il protagonista. E' una lettura semplice e dolce, ma molto significativa.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
jaredt's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
An adventure lead by a cat to save books is also about the introspection of grief over a love one who has passed.
A shut-in who can't express his grief, can't move forward, is pushed to by a talking cat. The cat wants to save books, and uses Rintaro to get that mission done, but there's more to it. The cat wants Rintaro to save books, who is leaving the bookshop his grandpa ran, who raised Rintaro and died pretty recent.
This is a story of Rintaro on an adventure, and how being pushed out of his shell changes him along the way. How he remembers his grandpa, the routine he had, the love he put into the bookshop.
This is a good book to see how grief can essentially stop a person, especially if they're already someone who keeps to themself. And for that kind of person to slowly step out of that corner when nudged. In this case, it was Rintaro's love of books and his grandpa that helped push him see the folks around him, cat included, who want him to grow and find his place.
This is not an over the top adventure, and Rintaro isn't some hero character. He has a passion, and its that passion that fuels him to change instead of stop completely.
I liked the story overall. It took me a while to get through it, and it wasn't until Sayo's integration into the plot did I feel more engaged. The cat was definitely a highlight, though I wish we got more time sitting with the cat's thoughts and feelings. It felt more like a tool used to support Rintaro verses another character, but I still enjoyed their presence when they were there.
A short story, a speck of introspection, and while I felt kinda ehh about the overall message on books with what they used to represent in the past compared to now, I think it had a decent message overall in regards to connection and support.
A shut-in who can't express his grief, can't move forward, is pushed to by a talking cat. The cat wants to save books, and uses Rintaro to get that mission done, but there's more to it. The cat wants Rintaro to save books, who is leaving the bookshop his grandpa ran, who raised Rintaro and died pretty recent.
This is a story of Rintaro on an adventure, and how being pushed out of his shell changes him along the way. How he remembers his grandpa, the routine he had, the love he put into the bookshop.
This is a good book to see how grief can essentially stop a person, especially if they're already someone who keeps to themself. And for that kind of person to slowly step out of that corner when nudged. In this case, it was Rintaro's love of books and his grandpa that helped push him see the folks around him, cat included, who want him to grow and find his place.
This is not an over the top adventure, and Rintaro isn't some hero character. He has a passion, and its that passion that fuels him to change instead of stop completely.
I liked the story overall. It took me a while to get through it, and it wasn't until Sayo's integration into the plot did I feel more engaged. The cat was definitely a highlight, though I wish we got more time sitting with the cat's thoughts and feelings. It felt more like a tool used to support Rintaro verses another character, but I still enjoyed their presence when they were there.
A short story, a speck of introspection, and while I felt kinda ehh about the overall message on books with what they used to represent in the past compared to now, I think it had a decent message overall in regards to connection and support.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief
In relation to death of parent, this is more of death of 'grandparent', who took on the role of parent to raise Rintaro. The death has already happened in the opening of the book, and is integral to the disposition of the main character. The nature of the death is also looked back on a bit further in to the story.schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
It was a promising concept but it turned out to be gatekeeping with bonus sexism.
The book conflates books and reading, in ways that aren't always helpful. In the first labyrinth, the problem is with people who collect books to brag about them, want to brag about the number of books they read and therefore never reread them.
I rarely reread books these days. When I was younger I often reread books I enjoyed and didn't understand it when adults said they didn't reread things. I think there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that as a child I had more leisure time and while I certainly had access to books and parents who encouraged reading, it's different as an adult with my own disposable income and access to bookstores. I don't remember having an actual written to-be-read list when I was young, as an adult it's currently about 350 books, partly because the Internet gives me access to so many different avenue for book recommendations. So even if I didn't add another book to the list until I finished what's currently listed, it would take me years to finish it so it can feel difficult to justify rereading something I've already read when I have so many books I've already bought but haven't read yet.
To be honest, I do think publicly tracking what I've read probably makes a difference, especially since until relatively recently the book sites I use didn't make it easy to include a reread of a book as a book read that year. Would I read more books if I didn't set a book reading challenge or track what I read? Maybe.
I know the best books always give something new when reread, but I have some fear that maybe I'd find I don't like the books I remember fondly as much if I reread them, especially older books where societal views have changed (usually for the better). And certainly there are things I might notice more now that I was just oblivious to then.
I have the least problem with the second labyrinth, which basically says if you read a one or two sentence summary of a book that's not the same as actually reading the book. You miss a lot of nuance and can't possibly get much out of it.
The third labyrinth has to do with selling books which include a lot of the types of books from the first labyrinth (summaries, abridged versions, etc) but also just books people might enjoy but aren't great works of literature.
There's a very strong feeling through the whole book that there's only one "right" way to be a reader and a lover of books and it's to read only great works of literature and probably reread books often and any other kind of reading is at least a less good and pure form and maybe just bad. And that's crap. People aren't inferior or bad because they like reading things that are not considered part of the great works of literature. Let people read what they want to read. Stories can be told in all sorts of forms and maybe someone who starts with one type of book eventually branches out to the kind of books this one considers acceptable. But maybe they don't. That doesn't mean that the books they read don't help them empathize with other people or that they don't learn other valuable things from them.
The end conclusion, that books teach empathy, is a good one, but that is also true of books that aren't, say, Shakespeare, which, as I understand, was pretty much the vulgar popular fiction of his day.
Rintaro would also be a pretty terrible book seller, at least for his female patrons. He recommends Pride and Prejudice to Sayo explicitly because she's a girl and keeps recommending romances only because she's a girl and apparently all girls like to read romances. (Obviously Jane Austen is great, and has a lot to say to everyone, regardless of gender). But he never asks her what she likes to read, it's just, you're a girl, you must like love stories. She's the only female main character and she struggles with reading (when reading Pride and Prejudice she complains there are so many words and so many pages and when she's ready to branch out he recommends another book she complains about and he basically says it's good to read things you struggle with. Which, yes, is true, but if you're trying to get someone to enjoy reading maybe don't make it like eating your vegetables or taking medicine).
Rintaro is also a shut in and the book takes pains to say a life of the mind isn't enough and you should also go outside and talk to other people sometimes.
The translator also made the choice to refer to the cat, Tiger, as "it." There's a note in the back that explains that pronouns aren't used as often in Japanese, and the original story doesn't specify the gender of the cat. I realize "it" is technically the gender neutral in English, but I also think it has a derogatory connotation that's usually meant to be insulting. While that clearly wasn't the intention here, I didn't know that until the end since that's where the translator's note is.
The book conflates books and reading, in ways that aren't always helpful. In the first labyrinth, the problem is with people who collect books to brag about them, want to brag about the number of books they read and therefore never reread them.
I rarely reread books these days. When I was younger I often reread books I enjoyed and didn't understand it when adults said they didn't reread things. I think there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that as a child I had more leisure time and while I certainly had access to books and parents who encouraged reading, it's different as an adult with my own disposable income and access to bookstores. I don't remember having an actual written to-be-read list when I was young, as an adult it's currently about 350 books, partly because the Internet gives me access to so many different avenue for book recommendations. So even if I didn't add another book to the list until I finished what's currently listed, it would take me years to finish it so it can feel difficult to justify rereading something I've already read when I have so many books I've already bought but haven't read yet.
To be honest, I do think publicly tracking what I've read probably makes a difference, especially since until relatively recently the book sites I use didn't make it easy to include a reread of a book as a book read that year. Would I read more books if I didn't set a book reading challenge or track what I read? Maybe.
I know the best books always give something new when reread, but I have some fear that maybe I'd find I don't like the books I remember fondly as much if I reread them, especially older books where societal views have changed (usually for the better). And certainly there are things I might notice more now that I was just oblivious to then.
I have the least problem with the second labyrinth, which basically says if you read a one or two sentence summary of a book that's not the same as actually reading the book. You miss a lot of nuance and can't possibly get much out of it.
The third labyrinth has to do with selling books which include a lot of the types of books from the first labyrinth (summaries, abridged versions, etc) but also just books people might enjoy but aren't great works of literature.
There's a very strong feeling through the whole book that there's only one "right" way to be a reader and a lover of books and it's to read only great works of literature and probably reread books often and any other kind of reading is at least a less good and pure form and maybe just bad. And that's crap. People aren't inferior or bad because they like reading things that are not considered part of the great works of literature. Let people read what they want to read. Stories can be told in all sorts of forms and maybe someone who starts with one type of book eventually branches out to the kind of books this one considers acceptable. But maybe they don't. That doesn't mean that the books they read don't help them empathize with other people or that they don't learn other valuable things from them.
The end conclusion, that books teach empathy, is a good one, but that is also true of books that aren't, say, Shakespeare, which, as I understand, was pretty much the vulgar popular fiction of his day.
Rintaro would also be a pretty terrible book seller, at least for his female patrons. He recommends Pride and Prejudice to Sayo explicitly because she's a girl and keeps recommending romances only because she's a girl and apparently all girls like to read romances. (Obviously Jane Austen is great, and has a lot to say to everyone, regardless of gender). But he never asks her what she likes to read, it's just, you're a girl, you must like love stories. She's the only female main character and she struggles with reading (when reading Pride and Prejudice she complains there are so many words and so many pages and when she's ready to branch out he recommends another book she complains about and he basically says it's good to read things you struggle with. Which, yes, is true, but if you're trying to get someone to enjoy reading maybe don't make it like eating your vegetables or taking medicine).
Rintaro is also a shut in and the book takes pains to say a life of the mind isn't enough and you should also go outside and talk to other people sometimes.
The translator also made the choice to refer to the cat, Tiger, as "it." There's a note in the back that explains that pronouns aren't used as often in Japanese, and the original story doesn't specify the gender of the cat. I realize "it" is technically the gender neutral in English, but I also think it has a derogatory connotation that's usually meant to be insulting. While that clearly wasn't the intention here, I didn't know that until the end since that's where the translator's note is.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism and Death
dexkit10's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief