mudder17 's review for:

Goodbye, Eri by Tatsuki Fujimoto

4.0

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Okay, I'm not the target audience for this novel as I rarely read Manga and I've never read this author before. So for someone who is not at all familiar with his style, I was confused for much of it, but then I went back and revisited the story and I have to say it was very well done. I'm still confused by the ending, but I believe that is deliberate. If you, like me, have never read anything like this before, give it a chance--you may need to read it a couple of times but I think it's worth it. The story is about a teenage filmmaker (he is 12 at the beginning of the story) and the story reads like a film, from the blurry panels as you would see with a boy and his camera early on, to the way several panels look exactly the same, except for the facial expressions, as you might see with a close-up of a face during a film. There are some stories within stories, and as I said, the ending leaves itself open to multiple interpretations but the final scene (in my mind) pulls the whole thing together.

I'm so glad I took a chance on this. It was kind of a mind trip, but I really enjoyed trying to puzzle out what was going on, and then going back to reread it to better figure out how it all connected. The ultimate messages are for the reader to decide and I love that you might get something different about it each time, depending on your headspace at the time.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and the publishers, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.