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candiemarsh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
chyneyee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Despite the confusion due to the lacking of transition stage and too many characters involved in the story, I found the writer's idea is unconventionally brilliant. It keeps pushing the readers to continuously pursue the truth with detective Sasagaki. It's just getting darker and keep readers wondering who Yosuke's murderer is. The entire story mainly focuses on the life of the young people, and the reader is wondering how their lives related to Yosuke's death. There weren't many hints can be extracted by the readers because the writer left the truth until the last page. There were so many plot twists throughout the story. It can be anything beyond our imaginations because the writer is telling another unrelated account which the reader can't connect the dots to the main plot.
Book Review: Journey Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino.
Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Abortion
arahuaj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I know that sometimes hurted people hurt other people. Sometimes I can sympathize with someone whose past is dark/sad and understand why they do a certain thing. But not the characters in this book. It frustrated me so much how evil people in this book could be. And the worst thing was that they got away with all their evil acts! They ruined so many people's lives, they don't deserve my pity.
This book is told in multiple POVs of side characters. If you hate reading unrelated side characters details, I think this book is not for you. It's not a problem for me personally because I like reading about people's lives.
If you're going to read Keigo Higashino's work for the first time, I would not recommend this book. If you like complex crime tricks I would recommend Detective Galileo Series (The Devotion of Suspect X, Salvation of a Saint, A Midsummer's Equation). If you like reading/guessing people's motive and slice of life stories, I recommend Detective Kaga Series (Malice, Newcomer) and The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Pedophilia
aisclaradm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Addiction and Abortion
snailmaiil's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Sexism
Lots of scenes of abuse against women and teens.equleart's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
What was and is happening is never in doubt over the course of the book and the obvious, only conclusion you are presented throughout ends up being what happened, and it honestly doesn't feel like thrill or a thrilling reveal was ever what Higashino was going for.
I do have to say that it was original structurally, and even though all the stakes are kinda low, the story has a feel that's almost Kafkaesque. It has this never realy delivered-on ominous dread thing going on while never straying from mundanity and that's kinda cool.
That said, I would've liked a clearer thread tying everything together, like the 'main' detective, because it feels like a short story anthology but doesn't get in-depth enough for the length. At 300 pages, this would've been pretty good, but not at its 700.
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Death of parent
chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The only thing keeping me from giving this 5 stars is that you can definitely tell the female characters are written by a man. And despite how much I enjoyed the story, I completely understand the criticisms of Higashino’s use of sexual assault as a plot point. And if I’m being honest, I was truly enjoying the book until I got to the sexual assault parts, where I then had to pause and accept the fact that this is where Higashino was now taking the story and overlook my issues with that in order to keep enjoying the book.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abortion
charliewoelkchen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Rape
autumn_melon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder
elevatot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Neglected to give this book a star rating because I haven't yet parsed through everything I want to process. That said, I'm inclined to give it at least 4.75/5 stars for enjoyment. Time will tell whether that rating will stand the tests of time, or I need to recalibrate my standards. (I've only just reentered the literary realm, the tropes of legal procedurals past, my sole guides.)
- Audio - I hope he narrates all the Japanese novels I listen to. I feel like a snob, but I really appreciate his pronunciation of all the characters and places. If you're not too familiar with Japanese it might be a bit difficult to keep details straight via audio alone.
2022.09.09 - 4/5 for enjoyment
Is depicting the current state of things w/o negative consequences endorsing it? Is it enough to accurately characterize an issue w/o condemning it as such? Do victims need to be portrayed as more than victims?
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Blood, Trafficking, Car accident, Abortion, and Pregnancy