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mirrorofneptune's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A very long, well-thought-out mystery spanning decades. Less a question of who is the perpetrator and more about their motives and means, and whether they’ll eventually be found out. The author explains a lot of the mystery but also leaves some details up to readers to notice and interpret, which I enjoyed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
Minor: Murder
chyneyee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- 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
One-Sentence Summary: The death of a pawnbroker drives two young people to dark and sinister life.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Abortion, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship
chrisljm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
This is probably the best mystery (and Keigo Higashino) novel I’ve read so far.
Journey Under the Midnight Sun is told through multiple POVs and so you get to unveil the mystery alongside different characters. The interchanging POVs and large cast was a bit hard to keep up with, but the storytelling was incredible. Despite the story taking place over a span of 20 years, with Higashino taking you alongside the cultural and technological developments of 70/80s Japan, it never felt like a drag. Every event that happens plays a part in the overall story, and it felt so great seeing it all piece together. The story/characters are fucked up, but the end of every chapter had a way of enticing me to continue. The book was gripping from start to finish.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion
elevatot's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
6/4/2021 - just finished the audiobook version read by David Shih.
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.)
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?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Bullying, Abortion, Car accident, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, and Trafficking
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