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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
How do I compare thee to a Yokai. Let me count the ways.
Tatami Galaxy is an intriguing concept playing with multi-universe and meta-narrative structures. It's a propulsive read with lots of iconic imagery, but ultimately bogged down by repetition, not just of events, but whole pages of text, analogies, and phrases. While repetition plays a key part in similar groundhog-day narratives, for impact and comparison, here it comes across as incredibly clunky. Just how many ways can a single character be compared to a Yokai.
I'm willing to chalk a lot of this up to translation and my unfamiliarity with it's many cultural references. But one more black-haired maiden, four-and-a-half-tatami-mat-room or rose-coloured-campus-life will leave me screaming like a manga character "GYEEEEEEE"
Tatami Galaxy is an intriguing concept playing with multi-universe and meta-narrative structures. It's a propulsive read with lots of iconic imagery, but ultimately bogged down by repetition, not just of events, but whole pages of text, analogies, and phrases. While repetition plays a key part in similar groundhog-day narratives, for impact and comparison, here it comes across as incredibly clunky. Just how many ways can a single character be compared to a Yokai.
I'm willing to chalk a lot of this up to translation and my unfamiliarity with it's many cultural references. But one more black-haired maiden, four-and-a-half-tatami-mat-room or rose-coloured-campus-life will leave me screaming like a manga character "GYEEEEEEE"
3.5 rounded down -- I am at times an impatient reader so lots of this book tested my patience but it wraps up in a way that I think makes it a worthwhile read. Occasionally funny, occasionally annoying, sometimes poignant. I can definitely see how this would make for a great anime though. If you're going to read this you can't DNF it because it's not good unless you read the final chapters, and because it took until the actual end for me to decide I liked it, I gotta round down ://
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The perfect book.
adventurous
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Doesn't really pick up until three quarters of the book.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was kind of a fun coming of age novel and I think it has a lot of really neat ideas. The characters are all really well drawn and super incredible in terms of their ability to bounce off each other.
Due to the conceit of the book, you end up reading the same stuff four different times, and so by the end of the book i was very confidently skipping 2 or 3 pages sometimes because I knew exactly what the text was going to say. That isn't a bad thing, but it is a little bit.... boring.
I really did appreciate how this was able to capture the listlessness and FOMO of being a young person surrounded by endless possilbity and not feeling satisfied with any of your decisions. That really hit home for me. I do think it's kind of painfully heterosexual in a lot of ways.
I get that part of the joke is that the main character is a self-valorizing egotistical jerk a lot of the time, and I really liked the ending, but it grates on you a little bit. I think this may have been slightly too long (and it is really not that long, so I don't super know what to do with that.)
Due to the conceit of the book, you end up reading the same stuff four different times, and so by the end of the book i was very confidently skipping 2 or 3 pages sometimes because I knew exactly what the text was going to say. That isn't a bad thing, but it is a little bit.... boring.
I really did appreciate how this was able to capture the listlessness and FOMO of being a young person surrounded by endless possilbity and not feeling satisfied with any of your decisions. That really hit home for me. I do think it's kind of painfully heterosexual in a lot of ways.
I get that part of the joke is that the main character is a self-valorizing egotistical jerk a lot of the time, and I really liked the ending, but it grates on you a little bit. I think this may have been slightly too long (and it is really not that long, so I don't super know what to do with that.)
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been "saving" this book for a very long time, and the longer I saved it, the higher my expectations for it seemed to become! Despite that, it surpassed all expectations and was an absolutely engrossing read.
I loved the characters and the way that with each chapter our understanding of them and the layers of events they are involved in slowly reveal themselves.
I could never have prepared myself for the insanity of the final chapter. What a ride!
I loved the characters and the way that with each chapter our understanding of them and the layers of events they are involved in slowly reveal themselves.
I could never have prepared myself for the insanity of the final chapter. What a ride!