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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I appreciate that this book is regarded as a seminal work in the Japanese literary mystery tradition. And I enjoyed the details of the setting: it's neat to get a sense of what Japanese life looked like in the 1930s, when the mystery begins, and in the 1970s, when the mystery was solved.
As a mystery, though...
I didn't appreciate the pair of authorial interludes, late in the book, where the reader is informed that "You really should have been able to solve the mystery now. Have you, or do you need it spelled out?" Aside from chaffing my ego, when the mystery is ultimately revealed, while it was technically something the reader could have deduced early on, there's a key piece of information about motive that's completely omitted, and one of the other key facts is deliberately obscured. Maybe I'm just not clever enough to roll with Soji Shimada, but the idea that the solution is something the reader should be able to figure out feels like a stretch.
As a mystery, though...
I didn't appreciate the pair of authorial interludes, late in the book, where the reader is informed that "You really should have been able to solve the mystery now. Have you, or do you need it spelled out?" Aside from chaffing my ego, when the mystery is ultimately revealed, while it was technically something the reader could have deduced early on, there's a key piece of information about motive that's completely omitted, and one of the other key facts is deliberately obscured. Maybe I'm just not clever enough to roll with Soji Shimada, but the idea that the solution is something the reader should be able to figure out feels like a stretch.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Ingenious. I fell for the lifelike decorations and missed the basic structure, as Mitarai puts it. Thoroughly engaging, and I adore the supporting characters, especially those in Kyoto.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder
dark
mysterious
