Thank you, Netgalley, for the advanced copy! 

 

Going into it, I thought the plot would be straightforward—a girl wants to simply kill her mother’s ex-lover for revenge—but it turned out to be so much more than that. It became an exploration of race, fetishes, and complex love. If you liked “A Man Called Ove” or “White Teeth,” you will enjoy this book. The tone was melancholic, funny, and absurd. 

 

However, there are a few things that I didn’t fully care for. The first being the characters. They were all bad, but in different ways. Which is fine. But I didn’t like how they were written. They came across as caricatures, kind of stiff and stale. They didn’t feel real at all. The second thing is the relationship between Kyoko and her mom, Emi. The book didn’t really delve into their relationship. It was kinda like, “Oh, this dude basically caused my mom to kill herself. I’ll just kill him, I guess.” The book did not hint at a deep relationship between Kyoko and Emi. There weren’t really any flashbacks to even warrant Kyoko wanting to KILL Daniel. And the thing between Daniel, Alma, and Emi was kind of weak. I understand why a hopeless woman would commit suicide after getting ignored by her lover, but there was absolutely no evidence for Emi doing it. Based on the writing, there was nothing to suggest a deep emotional attachment between Omi and Daniel. I refuse to believe that a grown woman with a child and a husband would just commit suicide because one man (who she didn’t really love) tossed her. The author should have spent more time fleshing that out. 

 

I also didn’t like how the story was told. The timeline was all over the place, and not very effective. The style reminded me of “Less,” which I didn’t fully care for because of that. I personally found the first half of the book more interesting. The last half kind of crumbled a bit, and I was ready for it to end. 

 

All in all, I did like the book, but it isn’t something I feel passionate about. I do think it is worth trying. I think it appeals to very specific people.