cherryxpop 's review for:

A Perfect Day to Be Alone by Nanae Aoyama

4.0

hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Nanae Aoyama - A Perfect Day to Be Alone 

A Perfect Day to Be Alone tells the story of Chizu, a reserved, quiet young woman who feels stuck in life. After moving to Tokyo, she lives with Ginko, an elderly woman who spends her days knitting and embroidering. Ginko’s house is filled with photos of her old cats - not that she remembers their names anymore. While Ginko is warm and kind, Chizu keeps her distance, caught up in her own detachment and bitterness. Meanwhile, Chizu’s life feels disconnected. She works as a hostess, barely maintaining a relationship with her distant partner, and later takes a job at a train station kiosk, where she meets Fujita. He brings some lightness to her life, but even that relationship quietly slips away. 

 

Chizu spends a lot of time feeling frustrated and detached. She resents her mother’s attempts at conversation, criticises Ginko’s social life, and feels weighed down by her own thoughts. Her habit of collecting small, forgotten objects - random things people drop or leave behind - feels like her way of clinging to something when life feels meaningless. 

 

Chizu struggles with her mother’s constant criticism and her forced cheerfulness makes her feel sick. Her mother’s focus on societal expectations has clearly shaped Chizu’s passive, detached view of life, which I, personally found very interesting. Her mother’s remarriage - and the way it quietly severs the last connection between them - adds to the novel’s themes of loss and detachment. 

 

After witnessing a suicide, Chizu feels even more lost. Restless and empty, she longs for something to break the monotony. Eventually, she takes an office job, throws away her collection of small stolen items, and starts to find some stability. Despite her frustration, Chizu’s quiet love for Ginko shows through, making her decision to leave feel bittersweet. 

 

A Perfect Day to Be Alone captures how life can feel dull and repetitive but still meaningful in quiet, unexpected ways. It’s a story about loneliness, resentment, and the slow process of figuring out where one belongs. It’s not exactly a heavy book, but it still touches on some deeper questions about life.

New vocabulary words:
perplexed -  confused, because something is difficult to understand or solve
mingle - to mix or combine, or be mixed or combined
sheepish - embarassed because you know that you have done something wrong or silly
merit - the quality of being good and deserving praise
pester - to behave in an annoying manner towards someone by doing or asking for something repeatedly
thwart - to stop something from happening or someone from doing something
indignant - angry because of something that is wrong or unfair
decrepit - in very bad condition because of being old, or not having been cared for, or having been used a lot
regurgitate - to repeat information without understanding it
incessantly  - in a way that never stops, especially when this is annoying or unpleasant