Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: セーラー服と機関銃

西の魔女が死んだ

Author: 梨木なしき香歩かほ
Page count: 226 (Bookwalker says 177)
Natively: 西の魔女が死んだ | L27

Summary

Japanese

二度と再び、まいの世界が元に戻ることはなかった。

学校に足が向かなくなった少女が、大好きな祖母から受けた魔女の手ほどき。何事も自分で決めるのが、魔女修行の肝心かなめで……。

English (tl by me)

Mai, a girl who just couldn’t bring herself to go to her new school, spent a month or so under the care of her favourite grandmother—secretly the Witch of the West—as the seasons changed to summer. During her stay Mai undergoes training to be a witch. But her training is not quite what she expected…The Witch has her learn that she must decide things for herself, and take her happiness into her own hands.

Availability

Amazon jp (also has kindle version)
Bookwalker eBook

Personal Opinion

This was my first (non-manga) book that I actually managed to finish. I think the biggest reason for this was that it is really easy to follow what is going on, even if you don’t understand (or want to bother looking up) all the words. It’s a sweet story basically about a girl hanging out with her grandma in the countryside who turns out to be a witch. Somewhat Ghibli vibes. I’m eager to give it another read.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Easy to follow (written for a younger audience?)
  • Good amount of furigana; all the difficult words have, but not so much that you don’t get to practice your kanji reading knowledge
  • Has at least one recommendation to the book club from another WK member! [2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge - #975 by NathaLire
  • 新潮文庫 best 文庫

Cons

  • Not very eventful story (but not uninteresting! idk, some may find it boring)

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

16 pages can be read on Bookwalker’s 試し読み


Additional Pages


Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know

0 voters

7 Likes