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Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'
Rental Person Who Does Nothing: a Memoir by Shoji Morimoto
2 reviews
aseel_reads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
fast-paced
2.5
I didn't realise this was a memoir until I got the book from the library (it was a hold), this was an odd little book. While it did make some interesting and insightful comments on human psychology, I can barely remember them and I only read this a week ago, so clearly it didn't do a very good job
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, and Alcohol
balletbookworm's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.75
3.5 to 4 stars.
Really interesting in how Morimoto describes his...job? kinda job?...since he doesn't really "make" money as just a person you can request to join you for kind of mundane things as long as he don't really have to do anything. He'll come sit while you clean the house, walk with you to file court papers, hold your place/meet you at the cherry blossom viewing, and so on. And this is kind of dependent on whether this sounds interesting to him - like, if he's met too many people to sit with them while they have coffee, he might not accept those requests for a while.
It is a really interesting concept, especially when he notes that clients have told him that they felt that a neutral/neutralish stranger was much better to tell something or ask to do a new thing with them than with their regular friends because of the fear of being judged or not heard by a friend, even a well-meaning one. Which...fair. And it was interesting to look at this job in the context of Japanese culture, where it really doesn't seem out of place as opposed to US culture where a "rent-a-friend" is kind of a weird thing.
But the book does feel repetitive after a while, so it does have the feel of an expanded New Yorker profile. (also interesting in that Morimoto is the "author" but it was "written" as others asked him questions and he gave them simple answers, so that probably contributes to the more repetitive feel)
Really interesting in how Morimoto describes his...job? kinda job?...since he doesn't really "make" money as just a person you can request to join you for kind of mundane things as long as he don't really have to do anything. He'll come sit while you clean the house, walk with you to file court papers, hold your place/meet you at the cherry blossom viewing, and so on. And this is kind of dependent on whether this sounds interesting to him - like, if he's met too many people to sit with them while they have coffee, he might not accept those requests for a while.
It is a really interesting concept, especially when he notes that clients have told him that they felt that a neutral/neutralish stranger was much better to tell something or ask to do a new thing with them than with their regular friends because of the fear of being judged or not heard by a friend, even a well-meaning one. Which...fair. And it was interesting to look at this job in the context of Japanese culture, where it really doesn't seem out of place as opposed to US culture where a "rent-a-friend" is kind of a weird thing.
But the book does feel repetitive after a while, so it does have the feel of an expanded New Yorker profile. (also interesting in that Morimoto is the "author" but it was "written" as others asked him questions and he gave them simple answers, so that probably contributes to the more repetitive feel)
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
Morimoto does talk about how the pressure to succeed kind of destroyed both of his siblings, to the point that his sister took her own life. It's a couple of paragraphs.
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