Reviews

This book perfectly satirizes living in a society in which one's value comes solely from either being married or having a respectable job. This book really challenged me at times and forced me to question my own views and beliefs and I love it for that.

vivianej's review against another edition

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mysterious relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

euastros's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

keiko is so me its actually insane reading it. this book is like. what neurotypicals try to do on autism rep and fail to do. i really enjoyed it as a quick read, and i think a lot of the times it's pushed out as being a totwlly different book to people rather than what it actually is. it was a dry humor that appealed so much to my autism but also i would never call this book a comedy. it's a cultural commentary on ageing, neurodivergency and ableism, on romance and sexuality, but not exactly a comedy! i didn't mind the presence of he who shant be named (i already forgot his name bc i hate him) because i found it to be

pretty realistic to how most autistic women are forced into relationships over seeming "normal". it's the same story, people who prey on women (and other at risk autistic folk) and the feelings of otherness. he's so close yet so far from the point that its both satirical but also realistic to see how this mra bitch gets there.i enjoyed the ending, esp since idk. i had a fondness for keiko and that whole routine of life!! the fact that people cared more that she eas in a relationship over the healthiness of the relationship...i think it made sense and tbh wouldn't have worked the way it did if he wasn't such an asshole. it's pushed to the extreme in a very well done satire. heres this awful fucking person who people hated (and for good reason!!) but hes suddenly bachelor number one all because it's fulfilling a "productive" role.

i think a major thing to keep in mind reading this book is that it is a translated work, and that it should be viewed not as where we as readers try to have it, but where we meet it. as somebody who's dipped my hands into japanese autistic studies + work cultures, this was something really interesting to read! as an autistic asian, it was also just such a comnecting read that i just. really adored and it really did feel like one of the best representations ive seen for characters who act like me and my brain. this book is not claiming to be autistic rep or one size fits all but it was a very very real experience of what being a more "calculating" autistic is like...

i know ppl probably have beef with the ending but idk. i thought it fit well and bc she wasnt "magically cured". also me asf if you try to take my career any Other direction rn i would actually die.

overall, love her. keiko you are one of my top protags of all time. putting all those russian lit thinkers to shame you go girl.