Reviews

Terminal Boredom by Izumi Suzuki

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alanakuni's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

aar505n's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

emwalsh666's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

Almost completely dreadful. As per usual, the uninteresting introductory premise of a society excluding men (those identified male at birth being the case here) was explored very shallowly and, yes, in a nonsensically cis way, not to mention the disdain toward butch women and transmisogyny inherent in some judgments that the narrator had. The following stories were either confusing to follow or just unsatisfactory. The only two stories I found interesting were the last ones, which actually didn't live up to their full potential anyway; I thought a certain character in the penultimate one, "Forgotten," was so anger- and hatred-inducing, but I found him to be perhaps the most compelling character in this entire volume. The final story, "Terminal Boredom," produced the most shock. I joked before reading the last two that the title of the collection was very apt as most of it left me terminally bored, but again, "Forgotten" and "Terminal Boredom" rescued it, though I still wasn't entirely satisfied.

phlegmie's review

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5.0

I have to admit that I delved into this without doing my research. I had no idea that these were written in the 70s, although how gender was explored in the first chapter was telling. After ‘You May Dream’, the storytelling got me so intrigued that I had to take a break and read up on who the author, Izumi Suzuki, was. I absolutely enjoyed this book. Loved how bizarre and unsettling it was yet retained its charming nonchalance all throughout. ‘That Old Seaside Club’, which was my favorite, fucked me up!!!