November 26, 2023

Content warnings: Discussion of pedophilia, fetishes

Basic plot: It's hard to summarize this without giving away too much, but broadly the book follows the lives of multiple people along a timeline leading up to 令和 (metaphorically a new age) and then shortly after. Themes of what it means to be normal or abnormal, and what it means to 'fit in' to society are explored via the character's differing inclinations and prejudices.

Language learning: If you want to practice tricky grammar, this is your book. The vocabulary doesn't hold back either, but I'd argue that the grammar is probably going to be more of a challenge. There were several sentences I had to pause and reread to grasp what was being said.

Review: Overall I liked this book, but I felt that many chapters went on longer than needed and some points were driven home a bit too thoroughly. The author also leaned heavily on scene setting by interlacing noises/distractions into the dialogue which was fun at first but felt a bit tired by the end. I also noticed that I looked forward quite a bit to some characters' chapters and dreaded one of them. I did not particularly enjoy reading anything by Yaeko.

Gradings:9
1
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cat graded
on September 22, 2024
harder than点と線L34
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
similar in difficulty to推し、燃ゆL36
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
similar in difficulty to予言の島L37
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
similar in difficulty to黄金仮面L38
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
similar in difficulty to半落ちL38
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
similar in difficulty to64L39
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
harder thanユージニアL36
cat graded
on November 26, 2023
harder than七回死んだ男L34