木洩れ日に泳ぐ魚

This novel takes place over one night, in one empty apartment. A man and woman, both about to move out the next day, have one final honest discussion about an event that happened one year ago, trying to get to the truth.

There are many revelations, twists and turns throughout, which makes you want to keep reading to find out more. Strangely, I found the atmosphere much less claustrophobic than in Eugenia, even though this takes place in one room during one night, when Eugenia spans several decades and includes multiple characters and places. It was a comparatively much lighter read, although not without its darkness.

While it has many mystery elements, this is not a mystery in the traditional sense. If you need everything wrapped up neatly by the end of the book, then better look elsewhere. If you're fine without a clean ending though, this is a good, and relatively easy read.

Content warnings: Mention of murder, suicide, child death

Language learning: This is a smooth, fluid read. While there are some advanced grammar points in here, it's the same ones repeated over and over. Further, most sentences are relatively short and ideas are repeated multiple times. The only challenge here I can think of is that some things are left intentionally vague.

Basic plot: A man and a woman spend an evening together where each wants to get information out of the other relating to a specific day and event the previous summer.

Review: Once again, I'm giving 4 instead of 5 stars to 恩田陸 due to the ending/wrap up when I loved the rest of the book. If having a solid, satisfying ending is of crucially important to you, better to skip. If you are more about the ride, go ahead and give this a whirl. The ending isn't bad, it just didn't deliver.