Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - 独り舞

While I was bound by my memories of the incident, the world kept on turning, time kept on flowing. The world has moved on, and I’m the only one standing still.

Solo Dance is a queer Taiwanese-Japanese novel about a woman ostracised from the world, and the lengths she goes to recover following a terrible incident.

Solo Dance is a painful and personal story of resilience in a society not willing to embrace identity.

Once I really dig into this novel, I found it impossible to put down, and eagerly read the final 200 pages in a single sitting, hungry for more.

Kotomi’s story is as vital and universal. Whilst often mired in despair, there is always a glimmer of hope throughout. The story interweaves between these complex states of mind with grace. I really loved this story.

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

solo dance is a rare book, one whose frank rumination and discussion of death speaks deeply to me. this is a novel abt death, trauma, and queerness, and kotomi explores her themes w/ subtle aplomb, reminiscent of qiu miaojin whose influence figures largely in the text as well.

while it's aptly dark and depressing at times, i enjoy the book's depiction of what it's like to be queer not only in taiwan but in corporate japan as well. it's the seemingly little things that greatly illustrates how heteronormative society is, w/ norie's time in her corporate job being an example. the disconnect between her external confidence and jubilance w/ her internal distance and despair also ring true, if a lil too relatable, too.

while the climax of norie's farewell trip and seemingly last reflections are very powerful, the ending - esp haoxue and jiaozhu's abrupt appearance - is a lil anticlimactic, coming off as too convenient, and i wish it was also less sudden. overall, however, this is a good book, and a particularly thought-provoking one abt death that i rly connect to.

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