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A review by simondoyle
When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao
medium-paced
3.5
Oh man, I wanted to love this book. I have to admit, I judged it by it's cover. And what a beautiful cover! (Apparently it's based on the US jacket but I haven't seen the US version to compare.)
We follow Eric Ly as he first visits Japan and meets a mysterious stranger (Haru) who spends a beautiful day with him. Then we jump forward in time and Eric's life is crumbling around him. And then Haru shows up again, except nobody can see him but Eric. (This is not Eric's first hallucination and won't be his last.)
I have mixed feelings about this book. Although I largely enjoyed the story itself, Eric surrounded himself with bad people. Even Haru forced him to do things he didn't want, and let's not even talk about Simon and Alex's blatant theivery, or Christian and the other guy (who was so forgettable I can't even remember his name and I've only finished the book 10 minutes ago).
I spent half the book wanting to grip Eric by the neck and shake some sense into him. And in the end, I skim-read the final 60 pages just to finish it. The plot reveal at the end didn't even add to my enjoyment. I guess, by that point, I had already checked out.
Well written but sadly forgettable, I'm afraid.
We follow Eric Ly as he first visits Japan and meets a mysterious stranger (Haru) who spends a beautiful day with him. Then we jump forward in time and Eric's life is crumbling around him. And then Haru shows up again, except nobody can see him but Eric. (This is not Eric's first hallucination and won't be his last.)
I have mixed feelings about this book. Although I largely enjoyed the story itself, Eric surrounded himself with bad people. Even Haru forced him to do things he didn't want, and let's not even talk about Simon and Alex's blatant theivery, or Christian and the other guy (who was so forgettable I can't even remember his name and I've only finished the book 10 minutes ago).
I spent half the book wanting to grip Eric by the neck and shake some sense into him. And in the end, I skim-read the final 60 pages just to finish it. The plot reveal at the end didn't even add to my enjoyment. I guess, by that point, I had already checked out.
Well written but sadly forgettable, I'm afraid.