Reviews

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

hiccyup's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

turidt's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

lauren_may's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

3.0

niaamore's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.0

| Favorite Quote | Even a cracked pot has a lid that fits.

| My Review | A skim turned DNF. Sorry!

I have a Love/Hate relationship with Japanese media. Although I have plenty of history with anime and manga, I am just now getting into Japanese literature. To be honest, I have not been loving it so far. My first venture was with Murakami, a brilliant writer with famously terrible depictions of women in his books. I refuse to read another book from him! I didn’t want to write off all Japanese literature, and BookTok thankfully swooped in to recommend Japanese books written by women. I would say I am unlucky that my first randomly selected book from that list turned out to be a 2 star read.

This romance takes place between a woman in her late 30s named Tsukiko and her former teacher who is now much older. Seeing as the age of Tsukiko is well past her 20s, I thought this book would be okay, and none of the themes of icky age-gap romances would be present. Well…

Upon meeting her, “Sensei” often recounts how similar Tsukiko is to how she was back in high school. Ick. He even went as far as to recall how she did her hair as a teen. Double Ick. Tsukiko also solely refers to him as “Sensei” throughout, despite knowing his name. Triple Ick. I’m sorry, but that’s 3 strikes, and you're out!

From what I skimmed, the romance seems sweet, but stems from a deep sense of loneliness. The reason I am giving this 2 stars instead of 1 is because of the age of Tsukiko. How they both acted, however, ruined the romance. I was hoping for something more mature.

I am back on my quest to find Japanese literature that I like, and the list seems promising! This one, unfortunately, is a pass. 

hanacopter's review against another edition

3.0

This reads like meeting that one slightly boring no face acquaintance you knew from high school in your mid 40s in a bar - as the night progresses, you think they're going to tell you something mildly interesting but it just gets slightly more weird and uncomfortable.

2.5/5 rated it 3 out of pure pity

cschwarz's review against another edition

relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

bungadinding's review against another edition

4.0

Perasaan di awal ceritanya adem ayem banget tapi di ending tahu-tahu sedih??

krispiefries's review against another edition

Wasn’t interested in the characters.

amyo's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ninabruinhof's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5