愛してるって言えなくたって

What is true love?

I was initially hooked because of the fact that the protagonist was married and had a child, so I was curious how the author would weave that into the plot or resolve it, if it was to be resolved. Without spoiling anything, personally I was ultimately left mostly disappointed in how the entire premise was handled, but I will give it props for discussing sexuality and cheating and the nature of crushes and love.

I like that the protagonist is nearing 40, and that he is a coward and a bit of a loser. The other characters mainly serve plot reasons and aren't really fleshed-out. Nonetheless, you get a feel for the comradery of the workplace and the unique setting. There's quite a lot of drinking and getting drunk, as you would guess from the setting.

Before buying this, reviews saying it's not really BL stuck out to me, together with the fact that the author is mostly known for his horror and mystery novels. It does tiptoe the line fairly obviously, but as the author states in the epilogue, "bromance" was a big central theme for this book, so that's probably why. I have mixed thoughts about all of that, leaning a bit more towards the negative side. I did like that it didn't pursue some sort of ideal of love; things remain gray and blurry until the end and that's how real life is.

The writing style is...fine. It's neither terrible nor outstanding and thanks to generous furigana easy to read even for intermediate learners. Some sections go into excessive detail about sales practices and company structure that I don't think did the overall pacing any good, but thankfully it's not overwhelmingly boring most of the time. The greatest strength of this book is its humor, showcasing in wonderfully human scenes the absurdity, drama and joy of life.

I don't know if I can recommend or not recommend this one. I did have my fun with it but I also hated parts of it.