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A review by versmonesprit
Backlight by Kanji Hanawa
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
I ended up reading this by pure chance, when I forgot to bring a book and had to find myself an ebook. Clearly, I regret that…
The initial excitement of having found not just a new author but also a whole new press quickly wore off.
When a 7 year old is lost in the mountains, a group of psychologists is called to aid in search efforts. While they talk, think, and hypothesise over the situation (as well as Western vs Japanese culture) the boy is found.
This premise should be right up my alley, but it wasn’t. For one, it felt more like a comical analysis of a situation through fairytales, and a commentary on cultural differences than an actual piece of fiction. Again, this could still work for me, but I found myself unengaged and bored, and I think that comes down to the quality of the translation.
Normally when I really dislike a book as much, I have more to say. But Hanawa seems to have been a sweet person, and a lauded writer, so I think this review more than suffices. While writing these last sentences, I saw there’s another Hanawa story translated by Meredith McKinney this time, and I might give that a chance to see definitively if it’s a translation issue or not.
The initial excitement of having found not just a new author but also a whole new press quickly wore off.
When a 7 year old is lost in the mountains, a group of psychologists is called to aid in search efforts. While they talk, think, and hypothesise over the situation (as well as Western vs Japanese culture) the boy is found.
This premise should be right up my alley, but it wasn’t. For one, it felt more like a comical analysis of a situation through fairytales, and a commentary on cultural differences than an actual piece of fiction. Again, this could still work for me, but I found myself unengaged and bored, and I think that comes down to the quality of the translation.
Normally when I really dislike a book as much, I have more to say. But Hanawa seems to have been a sweet person, and a lauded writer, so I think this review more than suffices. While writing these last sentences, I saw there’s another Hanawa story translated by Meredith McKinney this time, and I might give that a chance to see definitively if it’s a translation issue or not.