mjlineham's reviews
8 reviews

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

Shea Ernshaw has a lovely way with words, and I was enthralled by her writing. Everything was so vivid and easy to imagine, and I really enjoyed this as a sequel to my all-time favourite movie.

It's not what I'd envision as a sequel (I also really love the video game sequel, Oogie's Revenge) but I see this as a great "what if?" story, perhaps canon to its own timeline.

I'm not sure how much I like the Sally origin and Dr. Finkelstein stuff, but again think it was well written and realised. In my eyes, there will never be an official story to Tim Burton's masterpiece, but I'll jump at any chance to return to Halloween Town and beyond.

Also has a surprising amount of Queen Elizabeth II, for some reason.

The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura

I could read Shion Miura writing about forestry for hours.

Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

As stated by pretty much everyone else who has read Heaven, this can oftentimes be a difficult read due to how descriptive and cruel the bullying is. Some scenes had my heart racing, but I devoured it in about two days because I had to know how it would end.

I really enjoyed it. Some have raised criticism about how the students speak, as they're rather philosophical for their ages, but I didn't mind this, although one of the bullies felt a bit too far removed from what I would believe to be realistic.

Great novel, and as always, Mieko Kawakami has a lovely way of writing, and it's incredibly easy to visualise her words. One of my favourite authors. One of the final moments of this book will stay with me for a while, I think.

Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

I was sold on this one on the synopsis alone, and I'm happy to say it delivered. When I felt a bit "hmm" about some of the events, author Emi Yaga would always bring it back around into something that made sense and I enjoyed. Watching Shibata decide to fight back against sexism was great, even if her way of doing so was unorthodox, but it made for such good reading. It kept me guessing until the very end.

Brilliant debut from Emi Yaga. She has a fan in me.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

I'd put this one off for a while as I thought I wasn't "in the mood" for a story so heavy, but it's a book I read on Kindle and have since bought a physical copy of because I loved it so much. I'm not sure I could read it again, but I have no regrets having read something so raw and impactful, and although there are some subject matters I don't have personal experience with detailed within the book, my heart broke for our protagonist and the women that she's trapped with. I was a sobbing mess during the last act of the novel, and I'm pretty easy to bring to tears with books and movies, etc, but I Who Have Never Known Men had me taking some breaks to compose myself before continuing. It's masterful writing, and Jacqueline Harpman gives so much detail whilst leaving so much to your imagination.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara is a gem, and I mean both the character and the book. Kazuo Ishiguro nailed the indifference and cruelty that humans could likely show to such an advanced AI like Klara, one who tries their best to be human but simply isn't. Sometimes tense, sometimes heart-breaking, and often inspiring, Klara and the Sun is a journey I didn't want to finish, and one where I often found myself angry at Klara's owners, and I wanted to rally Klara as she did her best to understand the world around her. She puts so much belief into the Sun, and I like to think that it helped her on her journey of self-discovery and to be the best friend possible to Josie. Great book, and a great take on a concept I adore.

The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

Very strange book, but one that had me enraptured. Admittedly, you'll leave this book with very little explicitly answered, but there's a lot to think about in hindsight and I appreciate how Natsuko managed to write something so observatory and odd, something somewhat mundane, and still make it feel so very interesting.

Not the easiest book I've read to recommend, but still worth a look if you enjoy Japanese literature and something akin to slice of life. Don't spoil yourself and enjoy this weirdass ride. Will actively seek out more of Natsuko's work when, and if, it's translated.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

I enjoyed most of the stories in Cursed Bunny, and was delighted by how different each of them could be. I generally preferred the weirder and more supernatural stories, but the only two stories I didn't particularly enjoy were Snare and Cursed Bunny. My favourites were The Head, The Embodiment, Goodbye My Love, Scars, and Ruler of the Winds and Sands.

I won't review each of them separately, but I will note that for future readers of this book, Snare deals with many subjects in less than 20 pages which might revolt you. I was surprised with how many subjects I dislike seeing in media written here, and although it wasn't to my tastes, I still felt that it was well-written.

I'll be checking out future localised works from Bora Chung, who has an incredibly vivid way of writing. Anton Hur's translation is also fantastic.