alskn's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
ulyazmh's review against another edition
3.0
Finally finished this book in about 1 month and a half. It is actually longer than my usual pace. Each story has only a few pages, however, I found this book really hard to read. Is it because of my incompetence in understanding the story? Or is it because it was translated from Japanese (sometimes it is difficult to read books that are not in their native language)? The answer is probably a combination of those two reasons, plus the fact that it was written by numerous authors, so I have to adapt to their writing style for every story.
This book is divided into 6 main topics: 'Japan and West', 'Loyal Warriors', 'Men and Women', 'Nature and Memory', 'Modern Life and Other Nonsense', and 'Disasters, Natural and man-Made'. I personally think the grouping of the stories felt unnatural. For example, a story about ‘Flames’ is categorized in Men and Women, which is actually about a single mother who thinks that her child’s illness has a relation to the death of her neighbors. Or ‘UFO in Kushiro’ which is about a man who was left by his wife after looking at news about an earthquake. Rather than put it on Natural Disasters, I think it fits better in the 'Men and Women' section. My list can go on and on, and these examples support the fact that I think the topic is too broad and a single piece of composition can actually be grouped into many topics.
Aside from the negative aspects I mentioned, I found two exquisite stories from this book. They are ‘Patriotism’ by Mishima Yukio and ‘Insects’ by Seirai Yuichi. I will elaborate on each story below.
'Patriotism' was written in 1961. We can find this piece in the 'Loyal Warriors' section. This story is about a lieutenant who wants to commit seppuku because he was asked to chase his comrades and kill them because they had been with the mutineers, and following him, his wife, Reiko, who stabbed herself to death as a form of devotion to her husband. This story progressed from the early night when Reiko learned about the riot and that her husband would commit seppuku, what they did when her husband went home and how they spent their last night together to the end of their lives.
'Insects' was written in 2005. This story is included in the 'Disasters, Natural and man-Made' section. This story is about a woman who was a victim of the Nagasaki bombing. In her old age, she was reminded of an incident in her youth, when she fell in love with a man who ended up marrying another woman. What makes this story interesting is that it turns out that this woman and this married man she liked have committed a "sin", even though this man is known as a devout person. What was more surprising was the man's view of God and all that was happening in his life. According to that man, humans are just like insects, they just eat, mate, and reproduce. Who lives, who dies? It's just luck. He also added that God doesn't spend His time watching over every little person in the world and doesn't remember our faces and names. Like insects. For me, this story does not only discuss the issue of bombs (relation to nature) and love (relation to other human beings), but also the relationship between God and humans. This story really drained my emotions.
Because of those two stories, I felt motivated enough to dive in more to other stories. I re-read several stories that I couldn’t understand in the first read, I gave each story a rating which resulted in an average of 3.5 stars. This is considered to be 'just okay' in my rating system. I probably will not recommend other people to read this book, but I will highly recommend reading two stories I mentioned before.
This book is divided into 6 main topics: 'Japan and West', 'Loyal Warriors', 'Men and Women', 'Nature and Memory', 'Modern Life and Other Nonsense', and 'Disasters, Natural and man-Made'. I personally think the grouping of the stories felt unnatural. For example, a story about ‘Flames’ is categorized in Men and Women, which is actually about a single mother who thinks that her child’s illness has a relation to the death of her neighbors. Or ‘UFO in Kushiro’ which is about a man who was left by his wife after looking at news about an earthquake. Rather than put it on Natural Disasters, I think it fits better in the 'Men and Women' section. My list can go on and on, and these examples support the fact that I think the topic is too broad and a single piece of composition can actually be grouped into many topics.
Aside from the negative aspects I mentioned, I found two exquisite stories from this book. They are ‘Patriotism’ by Mishima Yukio and ‘Insects’ by Seirai Yuichi. I will elaborate on each story below.
'Patriotism' was written in 1961. We can find this piece in the 'Loyal Warriors' section. This story is about a lieutenant who wants to commit seppuku because he was asked to chase his comrades and kill them because they had been with the mutineers, and following him, his wife, Reiko, who stabbed herself to death as a form of devotion to her husband. This story progressed from the early night when Reiko learned about the riot and that her husband would commit seppuku, what they did when her husband went home and how they spent their last night together to the end of their lives.
'Insects' was written in 2005. This story is included in the 'Disasters, Natural and man-Made' section. This story is about a woman who was a victim of the Nagasaki bombing. In her old age, she was reminded of an incident in her youth, when she fell in love with a man who ended up marrying another woman. What makes this story interesting is that it turns out that this woman and this married man she liked have committed a "sin", even though this man is known as a devout person. What was more surprising was the man's view of God and all that was happening in his life. According to that man, humans are just like insects, they just eat, mate, and reproduce. Who lives, who dies? It's just luck. He also added that God doesn't spend His time watching over every little person in the world and doesn't remember our faces and names. Like insects. For me, this story does not only discuss the issue of bombs (relation to nature) and love (relation to other human beings), but also the relationship between God and humans. This story really drained my emotions.
Because of those two stories, I felt motivated enough to dive in more to other stories. I re-read several stories that I couldn’t understand in the first read, I gave each story a rating which resulted in an average of 3.5 stars. This is considered to be 'just okay' in my rating system. I probably will not recommend other people to read this book, but I will highly recommend reading two stories I mentioned before.
readsbyvan's review against another edition
3.0
It's a very captivating read, and the stories are wonderful, the length was just too long for me to keep a concentrated interest into every story, and it was a bit exhausting trying to understand every story. Overall, it's a pretty decent book if you are able to concentrate for so many stories.
mystifiedbulb22's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, diverse collection of stories overall. I'd maybe advise against reading the stories in order as the final thematic section on disasters became quite a slog to read. My fave stories:
- The Smile of a Mountain Witch by Ohba Minako
- Peaches by Abe Akira
- The Tale of the House of Physics by Yoko Ogawa
- Factory Town by Betsuyaku Minoru
- Dreams of Love etc. By Kawakami Meiko
- Hell Screen by Akutagawa Ryunosuke
- Filling up With Sugar by Sawanishi Yuten
- Planting by Matsuda Aoko
- Same as Always by Sato Yuya
- The Smile of a Mountain Witch by Ohba Minako
- Peaches by Abe Akira
- The Tale of the House of Physics by Yoko Ogawa
- Factory Town by Betsuyaku Minoru
- Dreams of Love etc. By Kawakami Meiko
- Hell Screen by Akutagawa Ryunosuke
- Filling up With Sugar by Sawanishi Yuten
- Planting by Matsuda Aoko
- Same as Always by Sato Yuya
anad41's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
stef5's review against another edition
4.0
The standout stories are:
"The tale of the house of Physics"
"The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema"
"Cambridge circus"
"Closet LLB"
"Dreams of Love, Etc."
The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces
American Hijiki
Pink ( probably the best one)
UFO in Kushiro
Planting
Same as always
Mr.English
"The tale of the house of Physics"
"The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema"
"Cambridge circus"
"Closet LLB"
"Dreams of Love, Etc."
The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces
American Hijiki
Pink ( probably the best one)
UFO in Kushiro
Planting
Same as always
Mr.English
camicore's review against another edition
5.0
Writing this to document Peaches by Abe Akira in this anthology. On the fallibility of memory and disorder within family social norms.
matthewjackson's review against another edition
I read quite a few of the stories, but some of the chapters (particularly the darker ones) didn't interest me.
8797999's review against another edition
4.0
A mixed bag of stories, I did discover some I loved and enjoyed very much and some others that were a bit odd, or quite odd in the case of one involving sugar.
Overall a nice collection and introduction to many authors I have yet to experience. That said there were a few stories that I had read previously.
A good collection and well worth the £3.50 I paid for it as a pre-order.
Overall a nice collection and introduction to many authors I have yet to experience. That said there were a few stories that I had read previously.
A good collection and well worth the £3.50 I paid for it as a pre-order.