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A review by quenchgum
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
3.0
A meaningful topic presented through a cool format that was probably better in theory than in execution.
Also, this book is a professional bummer. In the bad kind of way, too. Say what you will about Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life — was it trauma dumping? fucking with characters for easy emotional points? probably so — but at least I had known and loved those guys and so everything that went wrong in their lives was that special type of bittersweet, meaningful heart wrenching that only good art can accomplish. I finished that book and cried and wanted to tell my friends that I loved them. In comparison, the shit that went wrong in Tokyo Ueno Station fell flat. It just sucked.
FWIW, this is the first book I’d “read” as an audiobook, and it all happened during a 600 mile northbound stretch on I-95, so maybe I just wasn’t paying the right type of attention. It probably hits differently to a better listener.
Also, this book is a professional bummer. In the bad kind of way, too. Say what you will about Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life — was it trauma dumping? fucking with characters for easy emotional points? probably so — but at least I had known and loved those guys and so everything that went wrong in their lives was that special type of bittersweet, meaningful heart wrenching that only good art can accomplish. I finished that book and cried and wanted to tell my friends that I loved them. In comparison, the shit that went wrong in Tokyo Ueno Station fell flat. It just sucked.
FWIW, this is the first book I’d “read” as an audiobook, and it all happened during a 600 mile northbound stretch on I-95, so maybe I just wasn’t paying the right type of attention. It probably hits differently to a better listener.