serendipity421's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Death, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Car accident and Grief
Minor: Alcohol
kartoffel_00's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
09 June 2022:
It plays on a certain theme but keeps it very lighthearted and touching. There is predictably but it's not too bad. It's better to read this yourself than to describe what it is.
Rating: 3/5. Really enjoyable and wholesome.
It plays on a certain theme but keeps it very lighthearted and touching. There is predictably but it's not too bad. It's better to read this yourself than to describe what it is.
Rating: 3/5. Really enjoyable and wholesome.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide attempt
Suicide attempts, fire injury, child abuse - mentioned in passing. Nothing descriptive. Death - Some mentioned in passing and (major spoiler) -Spoiler
Death from fire, no gory details. Death of parents. Two incidents. One's an accident that's described a bit further but no gory detailsrieviolet's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really liked the mystery surrounding the Namiya General Store, I think it is a very interesting premise. I was quite intrigued by this "magical" aspect of the story.
After the first introductory section, the book divides into separate vignettes, that are still skillfully inteconnected but are told from different point of views. I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of short stories collections, in general I struggle to appreciate them as much as a novel. In this case, I also had a bit of an up-and-down reading experience, with certain sections that I liked more and other sections that dragged a bit for me and that I found less enjoyable. I still appreciated the ending, and I found it a good way of wrapping up the story.
Also I think that I started reading expecting a very lighthearted and magical story and while it was a magical and surreal story, it dealt with quite a lot of very heavy topics and I'm not so sure if all of them (and the characters involved) were handled equally well.
Lastly, I have to mention a brief passage that left a bad taste in my mouth. I do not know how the original Japanese sentence was or how the English translation adapted it, but in my translation there was a scene in whicha man (maybe in his 20s?) is reflecting about a young girl and he thinks something along the lines of "There was a completely unusual sensuality for a little girl, and he would have liked to find a way to make her turn around towards him". All that I could think was why, why do you have to inlcude such a comment, was it really necessary? I really did not like it.
After the first introductory section, the book divides into separate vignettes, that are still skillfully inteconnected but are told from different point of views. I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of short stories collections, in general I struggle to appreciate them as much as a novel. In this case, I also had a bit of an up-and-down reading experience, with certain sections that I liked more and other sections that dragged a bit for me and that I found less enjoyable. I still appreciated the ending, and I found it a good way of wrapping up the story.
Also I think that I started reading expecting a very lighthearted and magical story and while it was a magical and surreal story, it dealt with quite a lot of very heavy topics and I'm not so sure if all of them (and the characters involved) were handled equally well.
Lastly, I have to mention a brief passage that left a bad taste in my mouth. I do not know how the original Japanese sentence was or how the English translation adapted it, but in my translation there was a scene in which
Spoiler
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Car accident, Cancer, Self harm, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexism
Minor: Abortion, Infidelity, Fatphobia, War, Infertility, and Classism
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
utterly remarkable and one of the best books i've ever read. despite its relatively short length, the book took me some time to finish because of its content, which is high in emotional impact while also requiring some mental somersaults. the miracles of the namiya general store is full of dynamic characters, but its plot is perhaps the most extraordinary thing of all: no details go wasted, every story thread is--incredibly--interconnected.
a great example of show-not-tell, it says a lot when the reader can feel so touched--at times to the point of being speechless--despite the narrative being in 3rd-person pov, the tone being factual, and the writing not being flowery at all. the connections between all the characters and the intricacies of the time aspect still amazed me. i love this book so dang much.
while the problems encountered by the characters can be surprisingly dark at times, i appreciate how they all ultimately end on a hopeful note. w/ that said, it wasn't until i was nearly done w/ the read that i realized that this is a book i had unknowingly been wanting to write and waiting to read all my life. poignant, insightful, and miraculous.
a great example of show-not-tell, it says a lot when the reader can feel so touched--at times to the point of being speechless--despite the narrative being in 3rd-person pov, the tone being factual, and the writing not being flowery at all. the connections between all the characters and the intricacies of the time aspect still amazed me. i love this book so dang much.
while the problems encountered by the characters can be surprisingly dark at times, i appreciate how they all ultimately end on a hopeful note. w/ that said, it wasn't until i was nearly done w/ the read that i realized that this is a book i had unknowingly been wanting to write and waiting to read all my life. poignant, insightful, and miraculous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Terminal illness
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