Such a solid reality check.

Though I swear something got lost in translation for whoever blurbed this as "hilarious, quirky, funny, and weird"...

Even though it has it's humorous beats, it makes this book sound so much more superficial that it actually is as this is more accurately described as a dark and thought-provoking book that tackles neurodiverse perspectives on the underlying/unconscious nature of seemingly mundane activities. In my opinion, this isn't comedy nor do I think it means to be. Which honestly, is not something I knew going in because of all the mismarketing this book is on. The main character is arguably on the autism spectrum but aside from that it also tackles ableism, sexism, misogyny, mental health, and conformity while micro-analyzing a specific character's situation while feeling like it relates to society on a macro-societal scale, most especially Japanese society.

And for that, I personally enjoyed it and loved the character study. I need more Asian-Lit in my life.

This does have potentially triggering content so I recommend checking out the content warnings!

“So the manual for life already existed. It was just that it was already ingrained in everyone’s heads, and there wasn’t any need to put it in writing. The specific form of what is considered an “ordinary person” had been there all along, unchanged since prehistoric times I finally realized.”

— 4.25 —
⇢ content warnings// Ableism, Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic Relationships, Abusive Relationships