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readingwithcoffee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A little convoluted but an obvious love letter to other mystery books in overt references. It contains spoilers to the murder mysteries The Mystery of Yellow Room and The Problem of the Thor Bridge (this one I know is a Sherlock Homes one).
There is some violent misogyny in the book but I would not say it was ever condoned by the book. I said the book was diverse bc while the cast is entirely Japanese and largely one family there are two disabled characters. One with an intellectual disability and another with a stammer.
At times the writing was pretty convoluted and while I was able to guess and follow a long for the most part and tell what was meant to be a red herring I can see why some reviewers find that frustrating. I do think the book does a lot of telling vs showing unfortunately that I hope decreases in his other works.
That said there is a meta quality to the book that I found Sometimes interrupted the flow of the book but I think someone might find endearing of the author or very annoying even if I was more in the middle and it some what reminded me of “The woman in the Library” by Gentil even if that wasn’t outright the author interrupting the book and more smooth and interesting to me personally. I would consider giving the book a shot if you like murder mysteries!
There is some violent misogyny in the book but I would not say it was ever condoned by the book. I said the book was diverse bc while the cast is entirely Japanese and largely one family there are two disabled characters. One with an intellectual disability and another with a stammer.
At times the writing was pretty convoluted and while I was able to guess and follow a long for the most part and tell what was meant to be a red herring I can see why some reviewers find that frustrating. I do think the book does a lot of telling vs showing unfortunately that I hope decreases in his other works.
That said there is a meta quality to the book that I found Sometimes interrupted the flow of the book but I think someone might find endearing of the author or very annoying even if I was more in the middle and it some what reminded me of “The woman in the Library” by Gentil even if that wasn’t outright the author interrupting the book and more smooth and interesting to me personally. I would consider giving the book a shot if you like murder mysteries!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Emotional abuse and Colonisation