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julieshuff's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-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? It's complicated
3.75
I read this probably 80% on audiobook and the rest ebook. The audiobook narrator did a great job with text that read as a bit sparse. My book club shared lots they didn’t like, and I found some of the quests overly moralistic, but it was a quick read that held my attention and provided interesting food for thought.
katvnfos's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
kayeleen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
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
4.25
lq_joanne's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ciarazard's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-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? It's complicated
2.75
Bought this book along with If Cats Disappeared from the World on a whim at a book store in Hong Kong as a 'travel souvenir' of sorts, because CATS. CATS. ON. BOOKS.
Got halfway through the book at the airport and realized I didn't finish it, so I did just that today. While I would surely have appreciated this book more if I were younger, it did serve as a nice reminder that I should appreciate the simple joys of life more.
Definitely going to be filed under: books I'm having my child read in the future.
Got halfway through the book at the airport and realized I didn't finish it, so I did just that today. While I would surely have appreciated this book more if I were younger, it did serve as a nice reminder that I should appreciate the simple joys of life more.
Definitely going to be filed under: books I'm having my child read in the future.
kappafrog's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was disappointing. It felt like an anime you'd find really deep as a tween, but as an adult it's heavy handed and not as profound as it thinks it is. The characters were flat, and everything they did or felt was over-explained. They felt more like stock characters than real people, and the dialogue was often unnatural.
The arguments about literature were surprisingly conservative, with a disdain for anything that wasn't a Western classic.The final labyrinth sequence seemed to imply that the final "boss" was the Bible. While it was interesting to see the Bible represented as a Japanese woman, it didn't make a lot of sense.
Gender was handled very awkwardly. We're told Sayo is smart, but this is never actually demonstrated, and she's shown to struggle understanding books, especially those that aren't romances. Even the translator seemed to notice this because she mentions making the cat's gender ambiguous because she didn't think the book needed another male hero.
The best parts were the surreal details of the labyrinth sequences, and the carriage conversation between Rintaro and Tiger. I really liked the scene where you learn he represents the souls of books that Rintaro has loved. The way books moved in the labyrinths and the use of space in the transitional sequences were cool. Overall though, this book felt surprisingly shallow and mediocre.
The arguments about literature were surprisingly conservative, with a disdain for anything that wasn't a Western classic.
Gender was handled very awkwardly. We're told Sayo is smart, but this is never actually demonstrated, and she's shown to struggle understanding books, especially those that aren't romances. Even the translator seemed to notice this because she mentions making the cat's gender ambiguous because she didn't think the book needed another male hero.
The best parts were the surreal details of the labyrinth sequences, and
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Fatphobia and Kidnapping
cassie7e's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
As a book and cat lover, this story rubbed me the wrong way. I loved the premise of a cat magically helping a boy save books at risk, and the plot beats were entertaining and moved swiftly, which I appreciated.
"Books have souls. [...] A cherished book will always have a soul. It will come to its reader's aid in times of crisis." I wish we'd spent more time exploring this instead of complaining about how no one reads anymore, or at least doesn't read the right books. "I rarely find a book with a soul nowadays" sums up this book's perspective, which to me is insulting to modern writers and condescending to readers who aren't into classics. I'm not going to pretend all books published deserve it or that profitability and capitalism don't affect quality. But this book is pervaded with a pretensious sense of superiority for old books, as if all new ones are worthlessly modern mass market trash. I felt this overshadowed the message of loving books and sharing that love with new readers.
Beyond that, the writing felt strange. Perhaps the prose feeling stilted is an artefact of translation and it sounds better in the original, I don't know. The dialogue feels disconnected and trite. Emotions are outsized - characters react surprised and shocked to each other for normal interactions, as if everything everyone else does is out of character. The messaging is preachy, obvious, and full of unearned sentimentality. These two things likely stem from the shortness of the book - it tells us about what changes instead of actually developing it. So characters grow easily and those around them act like that easy change was unexpected and astonishing.
And Saiyo so often doesnt feel present at all even when she physically is supposed to be. She only speaks when it's to offer morale boosting or criticism to Rintaro. A shame because I really liked her and thought she'd get to use her strengths as a participant in the labyrinths too, not just patiently bolster Rintaro in using his!
merireadstuff's review against another edition
5.0
“Non si devono ferire gli altri. Non bisogna vessare i deboli, e si deve dare una mano a chi è in difficoltà. C’è chi dice che tutto questo sia scontato. Ma in realtà non è più così. E non solo, ma ora c’è anche chi si chiede se sia davvero necessario.”
Libro davvero molto bello che mostra concetti fondamentali con la semplicità e la bellezza del piccolo principe. Traduzione a volte un po’ ripetitiva ma buona!
Libro davvero molto bello che mostra concetti fondamentali con la semplicità e la bellezza del piccolo principe. Traduzione a volte un po’ ripetitiva ma buona!
adbooks20's review against another edition
2.0
DNF, and as I rarely write reviews unless a book really annoys me, I'll tell you why. Or rather, I'll tell you the main reason for brevity's sake, and you can gather the rest from other reviews that are better written than mine.
My bias here is that I work for a library network that deals mainly in audiobooks (which have been in existence for several decades, and are available all over the world). As such, I was listening to this as an audiobook. I reached the scene with the Mutilator of Books, who argued that people can listen to music while they're doing other things like jogging or whatever, but they can't read books while doing these things. So he was trying to make books more efficient to read by cutting them up. I thought, 'Did you ever hear of audiobooks?? Y'know, like the one I'm listening to right now??' Make it make sense.
I kept waiting for Rintaro to bring that up and offer it to the scholar as a possible solution, but he never did. I listened to that bit twice just to make sure.
I gave it two stars because I liked the general book appreciation, and I thought it had promise at the beginning. But I just couldn't keep going after that aggravation, and it had already started to drag.
My bias here is that I work for a library network that deals mainly in audiobooks (which have been in existence for several decades, and are available all over the world). As such, I was listening to this as an audiobook. I reached the scene with the Mutilator of Books, who argued that people can listen to music while they're doing other things like jogging or whatever, but they can't read books while doing these things. So he was trying to make books more efficient to read by cutting them up. I thought, 'Did you ever hear of audiobooks?? Y'know, like the one I'm listening to right now??' Make it make sense.
I kept waiting for Rintaro to bring that up and offer it to the scholar as a possible solution, but he never did. I listened to that bit twice just to make sure.
I gave it two stars because I liked the general book appreciation, and I thought it had promise at the beginning. But I just couldn't keep going after that aggravation, and it had already started to drag.