A review by madtraveler
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

3.0

I thought to give it a 2 but that seemed unkind. There's a good heart here and some passages are wonderful. It felt uneven for me and, especially at the beginning, difficult to follow or dry with some of the historical passages which read a bit like the "and then Seth begat Enos... and then..." passages of Genesis. But the picture of homelessness in Japan was heartfelt and sobering, and the passages of funerals about as touching as they were instructional. It's short enough to read quickly and see if this alternative sort of ghost / nonlinear story works for you.