Rowland Rowlands
It was great to revisit Kyoto again with the Epicurean Nagare describing immaculate dishes in great detail.
I was also glad of a fleeting visit with Tai again.
Can't wait for another visit sometime soon.
I loved this look at Japanese society, but I loved the stories most were The Rescurer and Sweetshop.
This has probably been the best and fastest read of the series.
It was totally enjoyable and thankfully didn't remove any of the familiar characters.
I like how Kazu's mum as a regular has their own tragic story in these stories but is a pivotal point.
Some of there best time travel stories I've read.
I completed this afternoon with my best description of it being a tale about people and how they interact with others, it is a story about loneliness and its many forms.
The conclusion I had partly guessed at the halfway point but the final ending was a little unexpected.
It took me a while to work through this book, and though enjoyable, I couldn't find anything to bond with the main characters.
Hopefully book 2 onwards is a little bit better.
This was a very entertaining read with the right amount of humour and myth to progress the story along.
PLEASE, PLEASE, Mr Nix can we have some more, perhaps from the ‘Curmudgeon Booksellers of Cardiff'?
Perhaps some more of the true land of magic and mystery.
The one character I feel that could have been utilized more is Vivienne as I preferred them to gungho Merlin.
Cymru yw gwir wlad Arthur
Not for me though I persevered it was a little too light and not to my taste.
Though the title intrigued me, I was disappointed with what lay inside.
Once again Thrawn thinks outside the box and one step ahead of his opponent.
I can understand how his personality can grate on people and grate enemies within. Still, he would always be a valuable asset to the Empire or the Chiss Ascendancy.
This reminded me of The Quiet Earth though very different, parts of it took me back to that. Choices have repercussions.
A thoroughly good read interspersed with humour , for me the only letdown was that I worked out who the villains were about 1/2way through. I love the mix of ancient myth/folklore with a modern-period setting.
Secret societies and their formalities still have some relevance today as they did in times past.
Finally finished, the Namiya General Store, covers an orphanage, individuals who are all connected to the orphanage, and how they are interlinked through the advice they ask the spirit of the store.
Being a Japanese novel the true story of the spirit is not explained as it appears to be way older than Mr Namiya, it is implied that it was also influencing him.
Told from the cat's point of view about interactions with his owner and the adventures they have when the owner tries to rehouse the cat, the reason is not told until the very end but being in true Japanese storytelling style it is heartbreaking
A good existential story about the protaganist being given several choices by the devil with each having ramifications but all in all the story was well constructed.
Though this book was an interesting read I found that it fell into the resolution trap with the ending seeming to be rushed. The big win for me was how it showed and tried to explain modern Japan's expectations, culture, and ideas.
One thing that was used to show expectations was for someone to conform like getting married and trying to achieve status in the community this was where the ending was ruined for me with the main protagonist bowing to social and peer pressure to conform though they seemed relatively happy with a lower class of employment. It starts out with the character being seemingly comfortable with their like working in a convenience store which in modern society I would class as essential work but is looked down upon by others.
Overall an interesting read apart from the ending of social compliance.
This is as much a story about relationships between women and their cats who try to hold on to some of their independence. Each character has their crises but they are told from both points of view but always in the background is the wisdom of Jon (elderly philosophical dog). The passing of characters be they minor or major is done respectfully. All the women are interconnected through their cats in some way.
A thoroughly enjoyable quick read.
Though part of the ending was expected I feel there was not a complete rersolution for two of the characters but the author got his point across in this being an existential discussion.
This is, not your average teen growing pains story it goes from infuation to discovering themselves and discovering a soulmate closer than they thought.
One moment in the book had me chortling and laughing. which caused my support worker to ask why was laughing.
Yes, like a giggling teenager, I was laughing at the fart scene.
The whole resolution at the end made sense and didn't feel rushed,
Once again Ms. Kawakami utilizes her broken characters to the full extent and it's not just the characters it is also in interpersonal relationships.
This is the third novel by Ms Kawakami I have read in the past six months, I admit that sometimes I get frustrated with it but I go back later persevering with it.
Next is The 10 Loves of Mr Nishino.
An interesting and very apt end to one of the better female characters in the SW Universe.
I'm in mourning now.
I hoped for more on the Mongol Empire as it headed west and encountered the Teutonic Knights, but this was glossed over. At about the time Tsinghis suddenly died, changed to the return journey of the main character. All in all not a bad novel but I feel that something was missing.
The story of Taiji and Fumika was a little sad, especially the subject matter, but it was handled exquisitely.
Now I am waiting on book 2.