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vanya_vatsal 's review for:
The Decagon House Murders
by Yukito Ayatsuji
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As a homage to And Then There Were None, this was quite good. Most of the cast has an English nick name inspired by an American or European mystery author so the name of the characters are easy to remember - something which I struggle with generally in Japanese novels.
The mystery was taut once it got going at around 20%. I thought I had guessed it all, but I hadn’t at all, not even close! Also at the end of that one chapter after which the answers get revealed, there’s this one single line of dialogue which chilled me to my core. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know which one I mean.
Anyhow, I understand that because this was written in the 80s and also that it’s translated from Japanese, the writing was stilted. It’s common for Japanese translations to have kind of a stiff writing which makes it a bit of a difficult task to make it through the initial few pages but the payoff here is totally worth it.
One thing I hated here and might have led me to give this 4.5 stars is that the women seem to exist only for one reason - to cook, clean or make coffee. The men will look but not bother to help even a little bit. Although I do recognise the existence of sexism in Japan and how it’s woven in their culture and traditions, it was quite off putting.
The mystery was taut once it got going at around 20%. I thought I had guessed it all, but I hadn’t at all, not even close! Also at the end of that one chapter after which the answers get revealed, there’s this one single line of dialogue which chilled me to my core. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know which one I mean.
Anyhow, I understand that because this was written in the 80s and also that it’s translated from Japanese, the writing was stilted. It’s common for Japanese translations to have kind of a stiff writing which makes it a bit of a difficult task to make it through the initial few pages but the payoff here is totally worth it.
One thing I hated here and might have led me to give this 4.5 stars is that the women seem to exist only for one reason - to cook, clean or make coffee. The men will look but not bother to help even a little bit. Although I do recognise the existence of sexism in Japan and how it’s woven in their culture and traditions, it was quite off putting.