Memorial, 29 June

I had much higher expectations from this book than it has met. The book employs an interesting but not unheard-of prose poetry structure with almost no punctuation, which was much easier to follow than other books employing a similar structure. It is also a very quiet book, which I personally appreciate, but it seems somewhat effervescent, ig? I was also somewhat dissatisfied with the lack of proper portrayal of Mai and Asta's relationship. I love reading about realistic female friendships, and I feel like I was deprived of that here. Overall, it was “fine,” I'd rate it 3.25 or 3.5 out of 4

Literary translated fiction following, Asta a writer struggling with her second book, lonely but for her friendship with Mai who recently became a mother. Her anxiety is heightened when she receives an invitation for the memorial of a deceased fellow university student August, due to past memories of what happened to him, his relation with her and Mai.  This was a very quick read with a simple plot but surprisingly dense in the themes presented, as it deals with nostalgia, youth, loneliness, platonic and non platonic love, friendship but also creativity and art.  The format is original in that it's written like phone messages but without punctuation or speech bubbles (for the majority) so it gives a poetry quality to the text. Despite having to reread some sentences to make sense of it, this is a short book that can be read in one sitting because there's not a lot of text on each page. The writing was simple and unadorned but there were some lovely scenes and turns of phrases.  I liked the characters and their relationships, especially Mai and Asta's friendship (ladiesssss). Because of the format past and present is intertwined, making a dizzying experience yet showing Asta's mental state and her struggles with her past and present.   I wasn't 100% emotionally invested, maybe because of the format, but because this was a quick read I'll just bump off a star.