A review by unicornfrolic
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda, 恩田 陸

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

3.0

Interesting plot and ideas but suffers from a bad translation - the language is very plain and very literal (“he looked at me” “I suddenly felt angry” etc). I think the story could have been a truly emotional journey if the translator had taken a couple of liberties and tried to capture the spirit of the words rather than their literal meaning. 

Not a bad read but also wouldn’t recommend it unless you’ve got some time to kill and want to try something different. 

That said, I would definitely give this another read if I come across a version translated by someone else. If one of Haruki Murakami’s translators (Jay Rubin, Alfred Birnbaum, Ted Goossen, Philip Gabriel) did a version, I’d be very interested
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