A review by nenaveenstra
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was an interesting read. The entirety of this book takes place during one night, in one apartment in Tokyo. The main characters have a seemingly endless conversation with each other, filling in the blanks of each others' memories about an event that happened a year ago. 

The suspension in this book relies entirely on omission. The plot twists - or reveils, rather - are only shocking because the narrators are unreliable. That's not something everyone likes, but I was okay with it. 

This book very much reminded me of thriller films from the zeroes, which is the same era this book was written in. A major contributing factor to this, was the fact that these characters exchange thoughts and ideas with each other and present them as fact, thus 'discovering the truth' in a completely unreliable way. The book does not address this. I appreciate the nostalgic vibe this gives off, but if this book were newer I probably wouldn't have liked this very much. 

Please check the content warnings before you go into this. This book isn't very gory or anything but I was very disturbed by
the discussions of incest. These people entered a romantic relationship with each other while they thought they were siblings (later turned out to be cousins).
 

The spoiler mentioned above is the main reason I'm giving this book a lower rating.
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