atreyomitra's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
coralena's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
glenmowrer's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2* Dadaist literature I think. The absurdist concepts and characters and behaviors create a lightly disturbing story that seems to have portentous meaning. The understandable anxiety of the Japanese about the threat of nuclear war and the consequent end of society has directed so much of their post WWII intellectual literature (and film) to the end that one cannot be certain if the behaviors described in this story are meaningful of themselves or are a sort of satirical distortion of the culture that emerged in the immediate decades after the bomb. Our protagonist seems envious of the life of a putative insect that spends it all circling around on its belly, consuming and dropping its own feces. This is a pretty dour model for life so one can suspect that it is actually a comment on how people generally live. By the way, "Sakura" we find is the Japanese word for cherry blossom used as slang for shills. Who is the true shill in this story? Is the author just having us on?
poperley's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
argus_adonis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
tdarroch's review
quirky appeal wore off to boredom so when I read the book would be 150 more pages of the same, I called it quits.
gaybowser's review against another edition
I might come back to it eventually, but it’s just not really compelling
tyrfishy's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment
cutiepop5335's review against another edition
1.0
This was the hardest book I ever had to read through. I forced myself to finish because I just HAD to find out the ending no matter how much I disliked it. The ending is the definition of anti-climactic and I want to bang my head against a brick wall for making myself suffer through that for the least satisfying ending known to man.
But hey, if you like books filled with people deceiving each other, constant sexual harassment toward a woman, the repetitive mentioning of a stupid bug, and a man getting his leg stuck in a damn toilet for 1/4 of a book, then you’ll be happy to know that this is the book for you.
But hey, if you like books filled with people deceiving each other, constant sexual harassment toward a woman, the repetitive mentioning of a stupid bug, and a man getting his leg stuck in a damn toilet for 1/4 of a book, then you’ll be happy to know that this is the book for you.