absolutely love banana yoshimoto's approach to writing a mystery. the atmosphere is so ... ♡ anyway, if you've read banana yoshimoto before you'll know just from the blurb that the story has the typical elements that her other work does. i did enjoy the additional cult theme here, because i just generally enjoy it when a book talks about a cult. i also thought the story was emotionally moving and i genuinely cared for the characters. loved the writing style as always, and i think it's good that this is a shorter piece ^^