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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
dark
medium-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: Bullying, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
this shit was genuinely insane i need to reread right the fuck neow to see if she orchestrated it all holy fuck
This is a non-traditional mystery by one of my favourite mystery writers. It focuses on the fallout of an unsolved murder over nearly two decades.
In 1973, Yosuke Kirihara, a pawnbroker, is found murdered in an abandoned building. Detective Sasagaki investigates. Suspicion falls on Fumiyo Nishimoto, a frequent customer, and her lover, but there is no evidence of guilt and so the case remains unsolved. After this inciting incident, the book follows the lives of Ryo, the ten-year-old son of the victim, and Yukiho, the daughter of the customer. Through their adolescence and their young adulthood, misfortune befalls many of Ryo and Yukiho’s acquaintances, friends, and family.
Point of view is used in an interesting way. Ryo and Yukiho remain very much in the background because chapters are narrated from the point of view of various minor characters. Obviously, this is an effective technique to create suspense. Since Ryo and Yukiho’s thoughts and feelings are never directly revealed, the reader can only guess at what motivates them or at their degree of involvement in events.
The plot can best be described as labyrinthine with numerous twists and turns, but in the end, all the details of the various subplots come together. How these subplots will be connected is one of the things that keeps the reader’s interest. The ending is not really a surprise; in fact, I would argue that the book could not have ended differently.
The cast of characters is massive. A character may show up in one section and then disappear, only to reappear years later. Non-Japanese readers might have some difficulty with the names. The first chapter introduces Yosuke, Yaeko and Ryo Kirihara; Isamu Matsuura; Fumiyo and Yukiho Nishimoto; and Tadao Terasaki. Other significant characters are Eriko Kawashima, Yuichi Akiyoshi, Miyako Fujimura, Fumihiko Kikuchi, Tomohiko Sonomura, Namie Nishiguchi, Kazunari and Yasuharu Shinozuka, Makoto Takamiya, Chizuru Misawa – and the list could go on and on. I would advise readers to perhaps begin a chart to remember characters.
The book is certainly dark with some very dark characters. However, even the villains are in the end shown to be human. When the reader learns about the backstories, motivations become clear and some sympathy is even felt for the bad guys.
The duration of the novel is almost twenty years, and the passage of time is shown through references to events in Japan; it is the allusions to advances in computer technology between 1973 and 1992 that are most distinctive.
This is a clever book which I found to be a compelling read. I was disappointed when I reached the end of this novel; as lengthy as it is, I would have liked it to continue.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
In 1973, Yosuke Kirihara, a pawnbroker, is found murdered in an abandoned building. Detective Sasagaki investigates. Suspicion falls on Fumiyo Nishimoto, a frequent customer, and her lover, but there is no evidence of guilt and so the case remains unsolved. After this inciting incident, the book follows the lives of Ryo, the ten-year-old son of the victim, and Yukiho, the daughter of the customer. Through their adolescence and their young adulthood, misfortune befalls many of Ryo and Yukiho’s acquaintances, friends, and family.
Point of view is used in an interesting way. Ryo and Yukiho remain very much in the background because chapters are narrated from the point of view of various minor characters. Obviously, this is an effective technique to create suspense. Since Ryo and Yukiho’s thoughts and feelings are never directly revealed, the reader can only guess at what motivates them or at their degree of involvement in events.
The plot can best be described as labyrinthine with numerous twists and turns, but in the end, all the details of the various subplots come together. How these subplots will be connected is one of the things that keeps the reader’s interest. The ending is not really a surprise; in fact, I would argue that the book could not have ended differently.
The cast of characters is massive. A character may show up in one section and then disappear, only to reappear years later. Non-Japanese readers might have some difficulty with the names. The first chapter introduces Yosuke, Yaeko and Ryo Kirihara; Isamu Matsuura; Fumiyo and Yukiho Nishimoto; and Tadao Terasaki. Other significant characters are Eriko Kawashima, Yuichi Akiyoshi, Miyako Fujimura, Fumihiko Kikuchi, Tomohiko Sonomura, Namie Nishiguchi, Kazunari and Yasuharu Shinozuka, Makoto Takamiya, Chizuru Misawa – and the list could go on and on. I would advise readers to perhaps begin a chart to remember characters.
The book is certainly dark with some very dark characters. However, even the villains are in the end shown to be human. When the reader learns about the backstories, motivations become clear and some sympathy is even felt for the bad guys.
The duration of the novel is almost twenty years, and the passage of time is shown through references to events in Japan; it is the allusions to advances in computer technology between 1973 and 1992 that are most distinctive.
This is a clever book which I found to be a compelling read. I was disappointed when I reached the end of this novel; as lengthy as it is, I would have liked it to continue.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
เป็นหนังสือเกือบพันหน้าที่ใช้เวลาอ่านแปปเดียว
ไม่เกินจริงเลยที่ปกหลังโปรยไว้ว่าพออ่านจบแล้วเราจะรู้สึกว่าหนังสือเล่มนี้ "สั้นเกินไป"
อย่างที่รู้ว่าเรื่องราวที่เกิดขึ้นในหนังสือเล่มนี้กินเวลาถึง 19 ปี อยากบอกว่าวิธีการเล่าและเปลี่ยนผ่านเกตุการณ์ต่าง ๆ ตลอดระยะเวลา 19 ปีนั้นมันสุดยอดมาก ไม่จำเป็นต้องกระโตกกระตากบอกเราว่าเวลามันผ่านไปเท่าไหร่ แต่สามารถแทรกเหตุการณ์/เทคโนโลยีที่เป็นคีย์ต่าง ๆ ในช่วงเวลาเหล่านั้นมาโยงเข้ากับเนื้อเรื่องหลักได้อย่างดี
เป็นอีกเรื่องที่รู้สึกว่าไม่ต้องถึงขั้นให้เราเดาไม่ถูกว่าเรื่องราวมันเป็นมายังไงก็สนุกได้ในแง่ของการผูกเรื่อง ตลอดระยะเวลาการอ่านทั้งเล่มก็คือรู้สึกเลยว่าค่อย ๆ ปล่อยฮิ้นท์มาพยายามลีดเราไป แต่ส่วนตัวแล้วคือก็จะยั้งไว้ตลอดว่ามันจะเป็นอย่างนั้นจริงเหรอวะ ไม่หน่า..
..ก็เอาเป็นว่าจบเหมือนโดนคนเขียนเอามาปล่อยซึมอีกตามเคย หลอกให้อินไปกับทุกตัวละครหลักซะขนาดนั้นแท้ ๆ
ไม่เกินจริงเลยที่ปกหลังโปรยไว้ว่าพออ่านจบแล้วเราจะรู้สึกว่าหนังสือเล่มนี้ "สั้นเกินไป"
อย่างที่รู้ว่าเรื่องราวที่เกิดขึ้นในหนังสือเล่มนี้กินเวลาถึง 19 ปี อยากบอกว่าวิธีการเล่าและเปลี่ยนผ่านเกตุการณ์ต่าง ๆ ตลอดระยะเวลา 19 ปีนั้นมันสุดยอดมาก ไม่จำเป็นต้องกระโตกกระตากบอกเราว่าเวลามันผ่านไปเท่าไหร่ แต่สามารถแทรกเหตุการณ์/เทคโนโลยีที่เป็นคีย์ต่าง ๆ ในช่วงเวลาเหล่านั้นมาโยงเข้ากับเนื้อเรื่องหลักได้อย่างดี
เป็นอีกเรื่องที่รู้สึกว่าไม่ต้องถึงขั้นให้เราเดาไม่ถูกว่าเรื่องราวมันเป็นมายังไงก็สนุกได้ในแง่ของการผูกเรื่อง ตลอดระยะเวลาการอ่านทั้งเล่มก็คือรู้สึกเลยว่าค่อย ๆ ปล่อยฮิ้นท์มาพยายามลีดเราไป แต่ส่วนตัวแล้วคือก็จะยั้งไว้ตลอดว่ามันจะเป็นอย่างนั้นจริงเหรอวะ ไม่หน่า..
..ก็เอาเป็นว่าจบเหมือนโดนคนเขียนเอามาปล่อยซึมอีกตามเคย หลอกให้อินไปกับทุกตัวละครหลักซะขนาดนั้นแท้ ๆ
I loved this, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to others. The method of storytelling is more than a little obtuse and, in many ways the answers are so obvious by the end of the book that the reveals aren't shocking at all.
Perspective is important to me. I've given books low scores because I felt the authors didn't use perspective correctly and I tend to like books with first person narratives. I like hearing the voice of a character, it makes me feel like I'm reading a memoir, which I've always enjoyed. This book did the exact opposite of what I usually like: the perspective characters change frequently and many are only used for part of one chapter. It worked beautifully for me, however. This novel is an incredible exploration of crime, survival, darkness and evil and I'm not sure it could have been accomplished in any other way.
Perspective is important to me. I've given books low scores because I felt the authors didn't use perspective correctly and I tend to like books with first person narratives. I like hearing the voice of a character, it makes me feel like I'm reading a memoir, which I've always enjoyed. This book did the exact opposite of what I usually like: the perspective characters change frequently and many are only used for part of one chapter. It worked beautifully for me, however. This novel is an incredible exploration of crime, survival, darkness and evil and I'm not sure it could have been accomplished in any other way.
I liked this book. The blurb suggests it is a crime story, but for me it's more of a story with crime in it. It would be hard to pinpoint the crime 'genre' attributes to it. Perhaps because it spans 20 years and follows many people who weave in and out of the main plot, sometimes just making a marginal appearance, only to return later, unexpectedly important. The thing is, I was not even sure where the main plot was most of the time. The book opens with obvious crime, a body of a murdered man. The murder goes unsolved for a very very long time. In the meantime kids grow up, people grow old, some other criminal activities are being committed here and there and about 3/4th into the book things that seemed completely unrelated slowly begin to come together and the pace picks up. The story was good, the way it was told was good, if there's more by this author I will read it too :-)
Journey Under The Midnight Sun is Keigo Higashino's masterpiece. Periodt.
hay quá đọc liền tù tì cả ngày =))
cách kể chuyện từ điểm nhìn của các nhân vật phụ khá là lạ và thú vị kiểu nhìn nhân vật chính theo nhiều góc cạnh hơn. trong lúc đọc truyện tác giả thả rất nhiều hint nên hầu như có thể đoán ra được nhưng vẫn khiến người ta mơ hồ ngẫm nghĩ về con người thực sự của Ryoji và Yukiho. truyện k mạnh về trinh thám nhưng phản ánh nhiều về tâm lý con người xã hội tệ nạn các kiểu
nói chung là tăm tối lắm nhưng hay vcl uhu kịch bản material !!
cách kể chuyện từ điểm nhìn của các nhân vật phụ khá là lạ và thú vị kiểu nhìn nhân vật chính theo nhiều góc cạnh hơn. trong lúc đọc truyện tác giả thả rất nhiều hint nên hầu như có thể đoán ra được nhưng vẫn khiến người ta mơ hồ ngẫm nghĩ về con người thực sự của Ryoji và Yukiho. truyện k mạnh về trinh thám nhưng phản ánh nhiều về tâm lý con người xã hội tệ nạn các kiểu
nói chung là tăm tối lắm nhưng hay vcl uhu kịch bản material !!