雨の日も、晴れ男

Language learning

I'd say it's a good N3 level book, and notably not a children's book - it is a full fledged fiction book. Given that, the book doesn't have furigana and uses more advanced kanji all the way to N1 and above. Because of this, I highly recommend reading the ebook version. That gives you a good control of testing yourself with the readings you should know and easily looking up new words and unknown kanji readings. I also want to note that it does use more obscure kanji instead of common ones for words you might already know - 嚙む instead of 噛む comes to mind.

Entertainment

Here, yet I again, I've failed. I chose another book that, in retrospect, I should know I wouldn't enjoy. Most reviews already comment on the story so I won't be long here. It simply wasn't for me.

Pleasently surprised

I was pleasently surprised by this book. I was looking for an easy book after having read a few novels a bit above my comfort zone and I found myself really enjoying this one.

What a pleasant surprise!

Usually I'm not a big fan of comedy, but this book - no, this main character, just gripped me with his charming sillyness! The book was pleasant and easy to read, while still teaching me new words.

I get if it might be too silly for certain people, but I really fell in love with Alex - and when stuff took a sudden turn for the more serious I found myself cheering for him and hoping things would turn out okay. Honestly, Alex really has inspired me and made me reflect on many things. I want to be a bit more like him - I think that'd do me well.

10/10 - a short, sweet, enjoyable and silly ride, which gets intense towards the end.

What a delightfully odd story

Like other reviewers have mentioned, this book is silly. Its about 2 gods that decide to mess with some British dude's life to make him miserable, but the man consistently manages to make a bad situation into a goofy one.

Its a fairly quick read (took me 6.5 hours), even with all the words and kanji I did not know and had to look up. The sentences are typically on the shorter side, especially when compared to higher level books like 君の膵臓を食べたい. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a goofy story, and it is good reading practice for anyone at N3 level. There's not much furigana, though, so depending on kanji knowledge, it might require frequent lookups. Only words with non-standard readings have furigana.

Entertaining Literature

Some people say this is easy, but it often lacks the context that comes from a predictable plot, and context is important for language learning. This is mostly due to the abstract nature of Alex. I agree with other reviews that refuse to spoil this book. Just jump right in, get lost, feel real emotions, and just have a good laugh while learning Japanese.

But, don't underestimate the level of Japanese just because it's currently at level 24. It is still introspective literature, even if it is comedy.

Great first novel for learners!

I was seriously worried about making the jump from reading manga to reading novels. In order to get used to reading narrative prose, I read over twenty of the short stories that are available for free on Aozora, starting at level 20 and working my way up to level 26. When I finally read 雨の日も、晴れ男, it turned out to be much easier than most of the short stories I'd read up to that point. It's easy to follow and uses pretty simple prose. It's very short, too—took less than ten days to finish. The story is funny and charming, I actually laughed out loud once while reading. (It was at the line 「アレックスは目が４個、足が10本になる」)

If you want to start reading novels, you can't go wrong with this one.

Slightly draggy - Good grammar and vocab for beginners

In summary, the last chapter probably made up for the rest of the book.

The story was simple and good setting for beginners reading, not overly complicated and had only 3 characters who matter so it was easy to follow. The plot was a little too much as I did not enjoy reading about the main character's sorrow through out 95% of the book. Almost wanted to drop this book at around 75-80%. Although at the very end I finally got the whole "morale of the story".

Grammar was good perhaps around N3 level. Vocab was repeated often enough to reinforce learning.

Hilarious! and sometimes kinda emotionally moving

I've only read a handful of novels so far, but this one might be my favorite yet. It's pretty rare that I come across a book that actually has me cracking up, and this one totally took me by surprise in that regard. The book's theme, as the title indicates, is positivity in the face of adversity, and the protagonist's often absurd(in the best way)reactions to the increasingly harrowing situations he finds himself in kept me wanting to see what he would do next. I don't think I was ever bored with this. It's a short easy read and I felt the conclusion was satisfying overall. If you need something lighthearted inbetween your other books, I highly recommend it.

The bit in particular where he's getting sacked from his office job was a highlight.