bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo was this month’s book club pick and I’ll also be using it for my reading the world challenge for Japan!
There are a lot of characters to keep track of that could be confusing. And sadly we don’t get much of a look into each character, they’re just sort of there as background/plot devices. I think it’s because the storytelling style is detached, and written from the perspective of the author telling us the story as it happened ten years earlier.
This was a quick read, and felt very similar to the detective style of Benoit Blanc in Knives Out (could be because I just watched Glass Onion) 😁 You never really know who it is and the detective takes all the info over the course of the story and finally ties it all together to reveal how the crime was committed in one big monologue! I kind of wish there was more insight into some of the information that was only mentioned once the solution was given to us, instead of lots of info dumping throughout.
I did enjoy getting a glimpse into parts of Japanese culture during the early 20th century!
Overall a quick and easy read that was fairly enjoyable. It follows the typical murder mystery/detective novel so it’s not really anything unique in this genre, especially since it often mentions other novels that inspired the twists. I should note that I’m not a big detective novel fan so if you enjoy them, this could be a perfect book for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: War, Ableism, and Classism
echosong's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, and Sexism
queencarolrules's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
_inge_'s review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The best part about this book, to me, is the glimpse we get into a part of Japanese culture of the early 20th century. I learned about the koto instrument and honjin - the building and the families. There's no modern technology in this story.
Unfortunately, the storytelling style is so detached that it's hard to empathise with any of the characters and root for or sympathise with them. The women in the story are mostly used to further the plot, there is one conversation of substance between to women about playing the koto. Rather than a sprinkling of red herrings throughout the story, there is a lot of info dumping. In the end, all the relevant information is tied together, while the red herrings are mostly left where you found them. There were two people who were quite present in the first half of the book, but as soon as the detective arrives they play virtually no part anymore.
In this book, it is very hard to guess what happened to the people who met their unfortunate end - even if you are right about the person(s) who did it. The detective figures it all out, but I would have liked to have more insight into how he put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I got quite a bit of the pieces from the text and flagged some red herrings, but there was no way to put it together logically from the information that was presented. In the conclusion, there were still too many pieces of new information which were vital to figuring it out. This is not a huge problem for me, as long as the process of solving the crime is shown more and made plausible. In the end, we don't know if there were consequences for anyone other than some lines in the vein of karma catching up on some people.
In the end, the book tells the story of what leads people to commit a crime and how they can get wrapped up in the execution of it.
Unfortunately, the storytelling style is so detached that it's hard to empathise with any of the characters and root for or sympathise with them. The women in the story are mostly used to further the plot, there is one conversation of substance between to women about playing the koto. Rather than a sprinkling of red herrings throughout the story, there is a lot of info dumping. In the end, all the relevant information is tied together, while the red herrings are mostly left where you found them. There were two people who were quite present in the first half of the book, but as soon as the detective arrives they play virtually no part anymore.
In this book, it is very hard to guess what happened to the people who met their unfortunate end - even if you are right about the person(s) who did it. The detective figures it all out, but I would have liked to have more insight into how he put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I got quite a bit of the pieces from the text and flagged some red herrings, but there was no way to put it together logically from the information that was presented. In the conclusion, there were still too many pieces of new information which were vital to figuring it out. This is not a huge problem for me, as long as the process of solving the crime is shown more and made plausible. In the end, we don't know if there were consequences for anyone other than some lines in the vein of karma catching up on some people.
In the end, the book tells the story of what leads people to commit a crime and how they can get wrapped up in the execution of it.
carmelj_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
crows_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
miracchin's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25