Reviews - The Tatami Galaxy

667 reviews for:

The Tatami Galaxy

Tomihiko Morimi

3.49 AVERAGE

sarahsigma's review against another edition

3.25

funny hopeful inspiring 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

joanavidigueira's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious 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

montyroz's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

brandlynn's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

darumachan's review against another edition

2.5

lighthearted slow-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

OK, here are a few of the things that are likely to make me DNF a book within the first chapter:

repetitive vague foreshadowing to a terrible ending
cringe absurdity for its own sake
casual misogyny and/or obvious carelessness in how fem characters are constructed
a "regular nice guy" MC who is both entirely forgettable and insufferable at the same time

So, Tatami Galaxy has all of it. I only finished it because I was reading it for my work, and I guess I can say I was pleasantly surprised since I'm giving it over 1 star. There were enough intriguing references to folklore to keep me interested; Ozu ended up being an interesting character despite being weighed down so hard by the MC.

Ultimately, this book fell far short of my expectations before picking it up but held up a bit better than expected after the first chapter. I still skimmed reeeeal hard, though, and basically just skipped all the repetitive paragraphs; even if there might have been little granules of differences here or there, I just couldn't be bothered because I cared so little for the exhausting MC. Finally -- sadly-- I couldn't shake the feeling that Morimi was trying too hard to seem like Haruki Murakami or to get his novel adapted into a manga/anime—the latter of which actually did happen, so goal accomplished, I suppose.

Content Warnings