Reviews
(3.65/5)Great learning material
This was a good read. Especially in the first chapters. It's a very holistic reading experience, as you move back and forth between dialogues and analyze floor plans of houses. The vocabulary is very straightforward, especially if you're at N2 level. There's a point in the book that you're likely to be overwhelmed with new characters, and that made me very confused remembering who is who. To circumvent that, I recommend reading the last 2 chapters in one sitting. I didn't really enjoy the end of the book, though. The last part felt super rushed.
A book of two parts
The first three quarters of this book were hands down the most satisfying reading experience I've ever had in Japanese. Thanks to the detailled floorplan illustrations, it was often possible to guess the meaning of words without looking them up. The interview style structure of this part also worked quite well and gave me the feeling that I was dynamically discovering new information along with the characters.
The last part is much harder languagewise and...sucked. The solution is infodumped on the reader and consists of a bunch of scraps held together by duct tape that don't withstand any kind of scrutiny. Some clues contradict each other, a lot of open ends remain unexplored and mysteries that the main characters puzzled over for whole chapters just turned out to be irrelevant and never got a final conclusion. The villains' motivations and the logistics of the whole operation remain shallow and unconvincing.
I also grew increasingly frustrated by how passive the MC is. Even though they are supposed to be a journalist, they almost never research anything that isn't dropped into their lap.
Mystery house
The book is about an unusual house - the floorplan looks unusual. People start making theories about the house and uncover a horrifying family history.
The language was rather straight-forward and easy to understand since it was mainly dialogues for around 70% of the book. The remaining 30% get very complicated, with many people being involved and being only a monologue - making it harder to understand what actually is going on. Nevertheless, I'd still recommend it as a good read for language learners as the story got me hooked fast and kept me engaged.
The story suffers from what i could only describe as the writer’s cowardice. Nothing really happens, the whole book is characters you could hardly care about vomiting their thoughts/ telling a long VERY generic creepy story of past generations. At first, i got excited and started making my own theories about the house and imagining different scenarios but soon it became clear that there’s no mystery here because the characters make the wildest guesses and are always right. I hoped they would AT LEAST go to the house, discover some horrifying things, meet some intimidating characters, have someone die to me make feel something- but no.. nothing really happens. The very convenient and try-hard plot twists by the end made me roll my eyes.
In short- it felt like an indie horror game with a promising start, which then ends with an uncomfortably long epilogue that’s basically a black screen telling you the second half of the story instead of letting you play it.
Language learning: decent i guess.
Recommend！
Unlike the other readers, I found the last 30％ just fine. It might be easier to draw a diagram to keep track of the people. (;
Engaging Mystery with a Convoluted Finish: A Mixed Yet Recommended Read
I was thoroughly engaged and curious throughout the book. I loved the mystery, and despite encountering some challenging kanjis, it was a quick read. The first 70% is awesome. However, like other readers, I found the last 30% to be long and almost tedious. The story became convoluted with too many names to keep track of, making it hard to remember who was who by the end. Despite this, I’d still recommend it.
Short, Sweet, Gripping
This is a very short but gripping book, making it a great read when you want something light.
The start was a little boring as the main character looks into this weird house's layout, but I couldn't put it down when the story kicked off.
As it's so short, the characters aren't fleshed out, and there are some wild jumps in logic, but it was overall a fun ride.
It only took me 3.5 hours to read and I finished it in a day. Highly recommended.
I'm putting a 5 star because of how much I enjoyed the book overall
learning wise I also think this is great since the descriptions are very clear, the grammar is simple and the process of the storytelling is very smooth. adding to that the floor plans given in the book, and as a pdf in the audiobooks version, it makes learning vocab around the subject very easy.
BUT a warning about the ending (and this is relevant ONLY to the ending), it really is not good lol
竜頭蛇尾
変な家 are 竜頭蛇尾 like two pieces that fit together, like a match made in heaven. The first 70% or so are terrific, that's 竜頭. The ending of the book is, in my opinion, 蛇尾 or くそ.
Let me explain. The first 70% are fascinating, we're getting introduced to a handful of characters. They're not really fleshed out but good enough to create a picture in our head so that we can fill out the blanks ourselves. Most of the time they're having a dialogue and we also see, with added pictures in the book, the exact thing they're talking about. it creates mystery, dread, tension, and the interest to read more and more. If this part had been the whole book, with a nice ending, I would have gladly recommended the book to anyone.
Unfortunately, the book takes the wrong exit and turns into a strange, exaggerated and confusing slog, that's blatantly trying to be witful but shamefully fails in that attempt.
I can't recommend the book because of the last 30% alone, but the first 70% still saves the book to 3 stars.
Interesting mystery story based on house floor-plans.
The language isn't difficult, but this has little furigana. Even names rarely have furigana. There's also a nice mixture of styles used since the mystery includes some letters, notices, etc.
I agree about the ending. It falls flat after a great build. Still I enjoyed the journey until that point
Engaging and intriguing start, that goes a bit off the rails
The first half of this book is fun and accessible with lots of floor plans. It definitely encourages you to keep reading, and there is lots of dialogue making it easy to read. The second half ... well, not so much. I won't leave any spoilers, but when the floor plans disappear there is a lot of plot exposition and it is both heavier going (a large number of names) and not so interesting. However, that said, this generated a lot of discussion in the Wanikani book club. A number of people found this a very enjoyable first novel in Japanese.
Start 2/3 with over-reaction and end 1/3 with convoluted back story.
I find bold texts every now and then on the first half of the book slightly annoying. A lot of pictures and also zoom-in with explanation on image are interesting, but text emphasis is a little too much...
The back story at the end is slightly interesting, but difficult to grasp the depth of the initial background and what are brought forward. Considering also the possibility of lies and fabrication, and so making the story less convincing. Also kinda over-reaction, but less than the first half.
Someone looks at a floor plan, consults someone else about it, and together they concoct the wildest theory about what must have been going on in that house. That's about it.
I deliberately used the word "someone", because all characters in the book were so featureless they could barely be called characters at all. Coupled with totally uninspiring language, this hardly felt like literature of any sort. Apparently, it was first published on youtube, which makes total sense in hindsight.
If you're looking for a quick and easy read (or listen), this may be a good choice, as there is a sense of mystery that keeps you reading/listening, while the language is as plain as they come. If you're looking for a satisfying mystery, or satisfying language, or fleshed-out characters, or anything that makes a good book, you'd better look elsewhere.
Content warnings: child abuse, murder
As a note, I listened to the audiobook, but do not own the text. My audiobook had a PDF accompaniment of the house diagrams, but I only looked at them once or twice. They're described pretty thoroughly so I didn't really need to keep referring to them.
I agree with Druadan's assessment of this book having a stronger opening than ending. The writing isn't great, but it was at least interesting at the beginning. The ending felt muddled, untidy, and ultimately unsatisfying. I didn't hate it, but it will only get recommended by me for the simple fact that books at this level, aimed at adults, aren't super common.
The writing is straight forward and generally plain with little literary flair. A huge chunk of the book is straight dialogue. The vocabulary, while perhaps not the sort you'd find in textbooks (監禁 and 撲殺 come to mind), is pretty limited and has a good deal of repetition. For a learner who wants to test the waters of novels and enjoys mysteries this isn't a terrible choice. Especially so if they want to test the waters of listening as the audiobook is decently produced.
Good book for learning house terminology
I really enjoyed the gimmick of this book to look at floor plans trying to puzzle out a mystery, which unfortunately gets dropped in the second half of the book. The characters are not exactly fleshed out but reading was still incredibly smooth in the first part and it's great for language learning!