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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
In case you didn’t get it, he lives in a four-and-a-half tatami mat room
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Four stars for the writing; five stars to the narration. Get your hands on the audiobook. It’s worth it! Side note that I am very much hoping that since we got an audiobook version of this one, we’ll get others by Morimi.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I often like to go to bookstores and pick up books I’ve heard nothing or very little about and give them a go which is how i stumbled across this pretty translated one! In this story you hear about 4 different parallel lives a student in university could have had depending on what club they chose to join on their first day. The first 3 stories are very similar which is where I started to get a little bored but the fourth was completely different and my favourite overall. The second in the series was translated last year which i might search for 👀 the covers are also gorgeous, and so detailed which i love 💕 definitely a strange read but it was quick and fun which was nice!
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So, I bought this book because 1. it was on sale, and 2. the cover art had the distinctive style associated with Nakamura Yusuke, who is the artist behind most (all?) Asian Kung-Fu Generation's album covers. One of my favourite songs of all time is After Dark, by the very same band. As you can see, deep reasoning indeed.
Hence, I was not ready for all this... quirkiness. We follow an unnamed protagonist for four chapters, and each chapter shows what his college life is like based on different decisions he makes during his first semester on campus. I know it sounds rather boring, but think of it more like "you don't look for trouble, trouble finds you", and less like "maybe it's the journey that counts (insert flower emoji)". It is brilliant, funny, engaging. Most plot elements come back after the first chapter, so reading further can become a game of guessing how a specific character/object will show up again, or what is going to spark specific events.
The Tatami Galaxy is a fast-paced story for people who don't really mind reading a book with its own set of rules and jokes, and dozens of Japanese pop culture references — with a generous amount of anime-like humor to make everything come together nicely. Finally, there's also that particular flavour of magical realism that, for some reason, I can only find in Japanese books.
(If you're also a literary food enthusiast: most characters eat a ton of Castella all the time, so there's that. Lucky me, yesterday, a relative gave me a chunky piece of the Portuguese ancestor of Castella, so I didn't have to bake it myself to satiate another craving induced by reading.)
Hence, I was not ready for all this... quirkiness. We follow an unnamed protagonist for four chapters, and each chapter shows what his college life is like based on different decisions he makes during his first semester on campus. I know it sounds rather boring, but think of it more like "you don't look for trouble, trouble finds you", and less like "maybe it's the journey that counts (insert flower emoji)". It is brilliant, funny, engaging. Most plot elements come back after the first chapter, so reading further can become a game of guessing how a specific character/object will show up again, or what is going to spark specific events.
The Tatami Galaxy is a fast-paced story for people who don't really mind reading a book with its own set of rules and jokes, and dozens of Japanese pop culture references — with a generous amount of anime-like humor to make everything come together nicely. Finally, there's also that particular flavour of magical realism that, for some reason, I can only find in Japanese books.
(If you're also a literary food enthusiast: most characters eat a ton of Castella all the time, so there's that. Lucky me, yesterday, a relative gave me a chunky piece of the Portuguese ancestor of Castella, so I didn't have to bake it myself to satiate another craving induced by reading.)
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes