Reviews

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

Only show reviews with written explanations

bookishwendy's review

4.0

This was a subdued, slow-burn May-December love story featuring a lot of delicious food and sake, and surprisingly little sentimentality. I had no idea while reading where it was headed, as there's an undercurrent of strangeness that's rather disorienting, though not in a bad way.

erikajcm's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

hyebitshines's review against another edition

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4.0

I wasn’t expecting a straightforward love story, only to be pleasantly surprised ... and left craving tofu (note to self: try out yudofu once quarantine is over, preferably with a chilled beer). While this wasn’t a straightforward romance, Tsukiko’s almost childlike passion for Sensei moved along this quiet story, contrasting the indifference of her regular “grown up” life. It would be easy to call her feelings obsession or point to the obvious age gap between Tsukiko and her former teacher, but I think that misses the point of her consuming and often abstracted depth of feeling and connectedness to Sensei — tentatively broached again and again in their fragmented conversations and images.

Sensei was a peculiar character in manner and speech, who to a degree was intentionally made out to be an elusive figure. Yet somehow, he also felt like a teacher I might have had too in some alternate life in Japan as well. I loved seeing him open up toward the end of the story, his willingness to be sincere with Tsukiko after all the ambiguous exchanges and encounters. Sensei’s death at the end felt characteristic of him, matter-of-fact and yet blurred in time and even who he was.