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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
hard to get into but in the end i think i enjoyed the book, super interesting style of storytelling which i liked
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Bro chapter 3 made me explode. Also I never want an Ozu in my life
I didn't think this was a great book, or even good just okay. But a month later I think about it a lot, the repetition especially standing out as a theme and the philosophical idea of choice, predestination, and other interesting ideas. I find myself fondly looking back at this book.
I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped, but I did greatly enjoy the final story in it. The concept of repeating the same college story but with a different club each time is a great idea, but the main character, especially in the first part, was nearly insufferable. He does improve throughout though. The writing style of the book is fantastic though, being straightforward and full of fascinating and expressive comparisons. I appreciated how the book addressed the idea of getting stuck in living life without taking in the smaller moments that come together to create who we are. The exploration in the tatami galaxy was quite revelatory as far as driving home what the book is about. Here is a quote from the book that I enjoyed, "Are people who live in seven, eight, or ten-mat rooms really worthy of lording over that much space? Do they really know every corner of it like the back of their hand? With control of a space comes responsibility. The amount of space we humans are capable of controlling is four and a half tatami mats or less; those villains who would greedily pursue more will someday find themselves on the receiving end of a fearsome counterattack from a corner of their room. That's what I've always maintained." Another point which I found interesting and has me thinking is the way that the narrator ultimately decides not to forgive his past self or make excuses for it, but own up to it and move on.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slow burn that made me do a few double takes. Reading the afterword explained the writing perfectly, and put a few last pieces together for me. The concept of making one seemingly menial decision and watching it play out over and over, to see how we may or may not be fated to interact with some people, was a fascinating viewpoint throughout this Groundhog Day adventure, with the fourth section really throwing you for a loop.
this book was... unlike anything i have ever read before. truly. the main character is a self absorbed weirdo, his life is monotonous and strange. and yet i thoroughly enjoyed reading about it. i guess i should start by reviewing each story, before actually reviewing the whole book.
tatami and the obstructor of romance: every single story starts off with a rant about how the mc hasn't done anything with his life, and how he constantly wonders about what would be different had he made other choices. which is extremely real i fear. this first story, with the film club, was the club i enjoyed the most, as it allowed him to be creative and funny, even more so than the other stories. it sets up the whole book, with its weird characters and strange happenings. 4/5.
tatami and the masochistic proxy-proxy war: the fact that so many sections were exactly, and i mean word for word, the same as the first story was not at all what i was expecting. and honestly it depicts a grim reality where we truly have no free will, where everything is left to destiny no matter what we try to do. with that being said, i did not like the ending of this story. i just in general don't like master higuchi, so the mc having to take over his position and really just be a loser, not even be in a relationship with akashi like the other stories, just made it seem like the bleakest of the realities. 2/5
tatami and the sweet life: the softball club being a weird religious sect was funny, i will admit. this whole book is just dry, weird humor, which i did come to like. the whole ozu-penpal-akashi plot line i really enjoyed, and it's the first story where we get to learn more about hanuki, whom i really liked. i think, apart from being an actual freak, this is the first story where the mc doesn't do anything insane, and where he actually starts getting better. 3.5/5
around the tatami galaxy in eighty days: of course, this one starts off exactly like all the others, except the mc is in some sort of underground, school-related criminal mafia? in this story we really get a sense of how it's possible the mc gets to know ozu in every single reality (my condolences). the whole going through the tatami rooms for 80 days, having revelations about himself, the people he surrounds himself with, and his life in general were interesting and relatable, his despair at the monotonous, and the realization that really, his lives were so absurdly different no matter how similar they seemed on the surface was very good. the wholesome ending was my favorite. 4.5/5
in general i think it takes a bit to fully grasp this book, only because there's no real premise? you're given a vague prompt, and then told four different yet eerily similar stories, only connected at the very end. by connected i mean connected by the main character. of course there are subtle things that happen which connect the universes, like the mochi bears or the moth swarm. all in all, extremely weird, not what i was expecting to read, and a great contemporary novel riddled with hard-to-swallow truths.
tatami and the obstructor of romance: every single story starts off with a rant about how the mc hasn't done anything with his life, and how he constantly wonders about what would be different had he made other choices. which is extremely real i fear. this first story, with the film club, was the club i enjoyed the most, as it allowed him to be creative and funny, even more so than the other stories. it sets up the whole book, with its weird characters and strange happenings. 4/5.
tatami and the masochistic proxy-proxy war: the fact that so many sections were exactly, and i mean word for word, the same as the first story was not at all what i was expecting. and honestly it depicts a grim reality where we truly have no free will, where everything is left to destiny no matter what we try to do. with that being said, i did not like the ending of this story. i just in general don't like master higuchi, so the mc having to take over his position and really just be a loser, not even be in a relationship with akashi like the other stories, just made it seem like the bleakest of the realities. 2/5
tatami and the sweet life: the softball club being a weird religious sect was funny, i will admit. this whole book is just dry, weird humor, which i did come to like. the whole ozu-penpal-akashi plot line i really enjoyed, and it's the first story where we get to learn more about hanuki, whom i really liked. i think, apart from being an actual freak, this is the first story where the mc doesn't do anything insane, and where he actually starts getting better. 3.5/5
around the tatami galaxy in eighty days: of course, this one starts off exactly like all the others, except the mc is in some sort of underground, school-related criminal mafia? in this story we really get a sense of how it's possible the mc gets to know ozu in every single reality (my condolences). the whole going through the tatami rooms for 80 days, having revelations about himself, the people he surrounds himself with, and his life in general were interesting and relatable, his despair at the monotonous, and the realization that really, his lives were so absurdly different no matter how similar they seemed on the surface was very good. the wholesome ending was my favorite. 4.5/5
in general i think it takes a bit to fully grasp this book, only because there's no real premise? you're given a vague prompt, and then told four different yet eerily similar stories, only connected at the very end. by connected i mean connected by the main character. of course there are subtle things that happen which connect the universes, like the mochi bears or the moth swarm. all in all, extremely weird, not what i was expecting to read, and a great contemporary novel riddled with hard-to-swallow truths.