I liked it!
The last chapter was more action than thriller, which was to be expected. There was a sort-of plot twist that wasn’t really surprising (there was some foreshadowing), and the book did have quite a strong moral lesson, which I don’t have anything against, but in hindsight it was very obvious? Maybe that’s common for teen’s books, it would make sense if it was. The author is basically using this supernatural phenomenon (a family that drives everyone around them crazy by being extremely clingy, emotionally manipulative, etc.) to drive his point home, and then in the end he’s like “oh by the way this happens in real life too! There’s gaslighting / emotional abuse in all these non-supernatural situations as well, so watch out for it.” Which is of course valid.
But I think I would have preferred the book without the supernatural / vampire-ish parts, because for me they took away from the realness. It’s a method to emphasize your point, sure, but I think a more subtle / realistic approach would have ended up being even scarier. Human beings can be scary enough as-is.
But, as I’ve said before, all the emotional abuse chapters / people just acting off was still really scary to me. Especially in the beginning, when the chapters were seemingly unrelated, and the supernaturalness wasn’t as obvious / I could explain it away.
TL;DR Good message, but (no concrete spoilers) the execution was quite YA-ish? It made me want to read a book with the same themes, but for adults. I think おいしいごはん got quite close to what I would want to read more of.
Man, I don’t know if this book is even classified as YA. But in my mind 辻村深月 = YA. 偏見かもしれないけど.
Thank you for the review, it really seems to be how I expected it: a mixture of elements I’d really enjoy reading about and elements I’d rather do without.
So, this inspired me to look again into the genre coined by @phryne, which really should exist: ‘profoundly weird people trying desperately to be normal’, and @pocketcat’s suggestion:
I had placed it in my watch list at the time, and it still looks interesting. Here’s a video about it (I didn’t understand much, but what I understood sounded really good):
Another possible candidate might be 嫌いなら呼ぶなよ. It’s short stories, but tsundokureader describes it like this: "Everyone is being judged and judging in Wataya’s stories, creating a suffocating atmosphere that is exacerbated by the pandemic’s restrictions. "
And of course, 水たまりで息をする mentioned above would probably fit the genre too. Possibly むらさきのスカートの女 as well. Here’s a tsundokureader review on that.
By the way, there is a new Murakami coming out in April. I quite like the title.
From what I understood, it sounded pretty crazy tbh But I was not very focused because I was really enjoying his speaking style それはねぇ、それはさぁ、それはそういうわけ
Generally speaking, I must say that I’m so happy with this incredible amount of cheap (and good!) books that’s available digitally that I don’t really feel inclined to spending like 1,500 or 2,000 yen on a single book…
Fair enough. I’ll definitely wait for a substantial sale before I get any of the expensive ones. But here I am with only one active book (I also have two on hold, but I don’t want to continue them right now), and in urgent need for something new to read alongside ユートロニカ.
I think I’m in the mood for something offbeat, so maybe むらさきのスカートの女 or 水たまりで息をする? (or one of the others if they happen to be on sale in the next few days)
Ugh, I think I need to pass this time as I really have a lot of work ahead of me the next few weeks, plus 1Q84 lurking in the background and also some pirates waiting for me to rescue them, as they like to do. So I’m trying to heroically resist the urge
To make this easier for me, what about you read 水たまりで息をする now (which I don’t own yet), so I can wait for you to report on it - what do you think?
And I hope that I’ll be up for more reading in like April or so - maybe the purple skirt one or the Onda Riku one?
Yay! Considering @Myria also seemed interested in it, maybe I should put up a small impromptu reading thread for it? Or even wait for you guys so we can read it together?
I find that I am more likely to put in the effort to read novels when there’s a deadline involved, so by all means! No idea how often there are decent deals, but it’s not the end of the world for me to pay full price (I only read four actual novels a year anyway ).
If @NicoleIsEnough doesn’t own it I don’t own it either, we sort of share a bookshelf, in a sense
So I guess I’ll be waiting for a sale and read other books in the meantime. I realized I still haven’t started カフカ book 2, and I hope to finish it before the end of March before lending it to someone else…
I can also definitely understand the sentiment on holding off on all the new 2,000 yen books that booktubers have a tendency to review.
Checking my 積読:
献灯使 is on there.
アンダーグラウンド by 村上春樹 is as well, but it’s very long and it’s non-fiction.
ユージニア which you all have read already.
人質の朗読会 because I like 小川洋子
犬婿入り I don’t remember what this is about, but it’s by the same (Japanese and German writing) author as 献灯使, 多和田葉子. Akutagawa prize winner.
虐殺器官 but this is an ABC nomination. And I think it has lots of military words (?)
木漏れ日に泳ぐ魚
文字渦 also ABC
むらさきのスカートの女
Hey, I didn’t want to pressure anyone into buying expensive books. I bought it on a sale myself, right after I finished おいしいごはん。 I’ll probably start reading it soon because I read the first paragraph yesterday and it pulled me in. But first some ユートロニカ.
I can make a thread for 水たまりで息をする to possibly record my thoughts, but with no one else reading concurrently (@phryne, you wouldn’t start immediately, I assume?), I’m not sure there’s much use for it right now. There definitely wouldn’t be a deadline anyway, but I could break down sections for future discussions. Or I can just read it and let you all know how I liked it, and leave it at that?
Then when you all have more time we can coordinate better about what to read together.
I just need to read the last two sections, so I could start in a few days, though I probably won’t keep up with you I’ve enjoyed reading your opinions on おいしいごはん, so I wouldn’t mind falling behind a bit.
Many Naoki and Akutagawa winners in there too. (No, I haven’t wasted hours browsing through the whole list, nor am I going to waste more hours looking up more information on the books I found interesting )
I think I might need to impose a no-buy on myself for a bit. I got 4 new books yesterday (well, used books but new to me!) and my bookshelf is overflowing This isn’t even taking into account the ebooks I have stockpiled.
それはねぇ、それはさぁ、それはそういうわけ 
- what do you think?
- maybe the purple skirt one or the Onda Riku one?
).
and read other books in the meantime. I realized I still haven’t started カフカ book 2, and I hope to finish it before the end of March before lending it to someone else…
This isn’t even taking into account the ebooks I have stockpiled.