Red Room Book Reviews

GENRE: Contemporary fiction. Japanese literature.  FIRST PUBLISHED: Shogakukan Inc, 2010. My copy - Manilla Press, 2023. READING TIME: Approximately 3 hours, 45 minutes.  THEMES: Family. Books/reading. Bookshops. Love. Loss. Healing from heartbreak. Trauma. Relationships.  PURCHASED FROM:  Waterstones PLOT: Takako is a young, heartbroken woman who unwillingly goes to live with her uncle Satoru in a secondhand bookshop, Jimbocho, Tokyo. She comes to love the bookshop and reconnects with her uncle, whilst forming friendships with the locals, all of which lead her to healing, maturity, and a fresh start. MY REFLECTIONS:  The overall atmosphere of the book is one of heartwarming cosiness. Sadly I couldn't connect with Takako or the other characters. I found them all very bland and lacking in personality. Takako is in her twenties but seems more like a teenager, and due to this the story has coming of age vibes about it. Despite some of the heavy themes it's a light ...

GENRE: Psychological thriller. Novella. FIRST PUBLISHED:  2018 by Flammarion. My copy, 2021 by Scribner. THEMES:  Suicide. Adolescence. Holidaying. Family. Making friends. Lust. Society. Fitting in. Coming of age. Morality.  READING TIME:  Approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes. PURCHASED FROM:  Waterstones PLOT:  Leonard is seventeen and an outsider. Whilst holidaying with his family during a heatwave in France, Leonard witnesses another teenager, apparently committing suicide. He then decides to bury the body. The story follows Leonard's inner thoughts about the what he has done, what he hasn't done, and about how he sees himself and the'others' in a society he clearly struggles with.  MY REFLECTIONS: If the song 'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads was a book, this would be it. It is a short story about a boy who does not fit in and his awareness of this. It's fuelled with sexual tension, inner conflict and clever contrasts. The writing is intelligently d...