Wow, this was exceptionally bad.
At times I thought maybe it just translated bad... Like maybe this award-winning story really was fantastic in the Japanese but this translator was merely 10 years old so I should give him some credit. But no, I think the story is just bad. Unless the author is 10 years old --- in which case I'd say, keep going, buddy!
I'm usually a sucker for a book about a bookshop and that's why I picked this one up at Barnes and Noble a few days ago. I think it's important to read works by people from cultures very different from me and for that, I give this book 1-star. I appreciate the opportunity to read books translated from other languages. I appreciate that people will do the work of translation. But this book sucks and there's just no getting around that.
There is no story, no plot. There is no character development. At. All. Takako is the flattest character I've encountered lately and her interactions with her aunt and uncle grossed me right out. He is way too creepily attached, she (aunt) is just slightly less creepy because she is not so attached. Takako lets life happen to her and slumps like a pile of regurgitated phlegm at every opportunity.
So I wondered... maybe all the beautiful, award-winning, magical nuances are just lost in translation. But then I get to chapter 3 and realize. Nope. It still just sucks. Chapter 3 is the climactic turning point at which angsty 16-year-old teenage boy writing turns to obnoxious, middle-school kid picking his nose and not showering for a week writing.
Well, that's about all I got for tonight. If you thought this review was stupid, wait 'til you read this book.
At times I thought maybe it just translated bad... Like maybe this award-winning story really was fantastic in the Japanese but this translator was merely 10 years old so I should give him some credit. But no, I think the story is just bad. Unless the author is 10 years old --- in which case I'd say, keep going, buddy!
I'm usually a sucker for a book about a bookshop and that's why I picked this one up at Barnes and Noble a few days ago. I think it's important to read works by people from cultures very different from me and for that, I give this book 1-star. I appreciate the opportunity to read books translated from other languages. I appreciate that people will do the work of translation. But this book sucks and there's just no getting around that.
There is no story, no plot. There is no character development. At. All. Takako is the flattest character I've encountered lately and her interactions with her aunt and uncle grossed me right out. He is way too creepily attached, she (aunt) is just slightly less creepy because she is not so attached. Takako lets life happen to her and slumps like a pile of regurgitated phlegm at every opportunity.
So I wondered... maybe all the beautiful, award-winning, magical nuances are just lost in translation. But then I get to chapter 3 and realize. Nope. It still just sucks. Chapter 3 is the climactic turning point at which angsty 16-year-old teenage boy writing turns to obnoxious, middle-school kid picking his nose and not showering for a week writing.
Well, that's about all I got for tonight. If you thought this review was stupid, wait 'til you read this book.
