February 15, 2023

I had a great time with this. Murata is great at writing dialogue for the worst people you could ever meet. I read a chunk of this in a cafe with my friend and had a few lines of dialogue where I just had to turn to tell her what insane shit one of the characters had just said.

I think this is one of those books where if you see the premise and think you'll like it, you probably will. I don't think people should feel obliged to read it just because a lot of people say it's easy or a good first Japanese book - if you aren't interested in these sort of modern setting stories where very little happens, don't force yourself to read it.

While the book's message is repetitive, I felt that that helped its theming, because it shows that literally no matter what the MC does those around her will never be happy with her choices. In the end while they say that marrying/having kids/finding another job will make her "right", they'll always find something new to find "wrong" about her because she's neurodivergent and can't embody the ideal the world wants her to reflect.

Gradings:16
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ruby graded
on June 17, 2024
ruby graded
on March 28, 2024
similar in difficulty to屍人荘の殺人L32
ruby graded
on April 15, 2023
similar in difficulty to江ノ島は猫の島であるL31
ruby graded
on February 20, 2023
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
easier than光が死んだ夏 1L27
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
easier than走れメロスL33
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
similar in difficulty toミモザの告白L29
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
similar in difficulty to終焉ノ栞L26
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
harder than腐男子家族 1L24
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
similar in difficulty toひとL28
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023
ruby graded
on February 15, 2023