A review by aaacalli
Byobu by Ida Vitale

challenging emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Essentially a book of essays, not fictional vignettes. I believe marketing this as experimental fiction is incorrect; I would call it a philosophy book above all else. Byobu as a "character" is simply a way for Vitale to set the scene to realistically share her philosophies...a scapegoat or a logical method? Depends on your perspective. Ironically, one of the essays speaks about how no thought is truly original, but I find many of Vitale's philosophies to be genuinely original, at least in the written word. I feel that many of them are things many of us have thought about before but they remained unwritten because nobody could find the perfect words...until now. The book ends with a ladder of aphorisms that are a bit cheesy but they have profoundness in them as well. When you realize Vitale is pushing one hundred years old and is still alive, it makes you think of this all in a different perspective. If I'm not mistaken, this book is fairly recent, and the translation to English even more so, so I imagine her sense of mortality was really weighing and impending upon her whilst writing this. Sometimes the arguments are a bit self-important and pretentious and I am sure even such a famous writer was not immune to using a thesaurus given how extra some of the diction is, but this really makes you think, it just has a marketing issue. I will buy the physical copy of the English translation for my home to console me on a rainy day. Another note: "Byobu"'s experiences are very reminiscent of those of us on the spectrum.