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katclaybaugh 's review for:
Tokyo Ueno Station
by Yu Miri
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I appreciated the class discussion this book prompts. However, a lot of the connections the author set up didn’t go as far as they could’ve.
I feel like the cultural gap between the protagonist and myself left me frustrated at times. We discover 3/4 of the way through that he chose to become houseless, which I felt sort of undermined the empathy the author had intended the reader to feel for him. I just really didn’t connect with his way of thinking or moving through the world, which isn’t always necessary for me to enjoy a book but I think left me struggling to sink my teeth into the story.
I felt the emotional connection to his grief though and appreciated those moments where it was the focus. There was a lot of tenderness in those pages, I just wish they’d gotten more time. There were some parts that I feel could’ve been trimmed down to keep the reflective/emotional tone at the forefront, like the pages about Japanese military history or the pages of info on the sect of Buddhism he practiced that started to feel a bit like a Wikipedia page.
I’ve also never been a fan of stream of consciousness style writing, so the lack of structure made the writing feel unfinished to me. I can totally appreciate the cultural gap and stylistic choices are what prevented me from enjoying this one more.
I feel like the cultural gap between the protagonist and myself left me frustrated at times. We discover 3/4 of the way through that he chose to become houseless, which I felt sort of undermined the empathy the author had intended the reader to feel for him. I just really didn’t connect with his way of thinking or moving through the world, which isn’t always necessary for me to enjoy a book but I think left me struggling to sink my teeth into the story.
I felt the emotional connection to his grief though and appreciated those moments where it was the focus. There was a lot of tenderness in those pages, I just wish they’d gotten more time. There were some parts that I feel could’ve been trimmed down to keep the reflective/emotional tone at the forefront, like the pages about Japanese military history or the pages of info on the sect of Buddhism he practiced that started to feel a bit like a Wikipedia page.
I’ve also never been a fan of stream of consciousness style writing, so the lack of structure made the writing feel unfinished to me. I can totally appreciate the cultural gap and stylistic choices are what prevented me from enjoying this one more.