afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

Yall have to understand how hard it is for me to write my thoughts on this, because it physically pains me when the anticipated book of the BEST KANE BROTHER ended up to be a total disappointment. And this is coming from a place of love.

"“But just know that I didn’t choose to go to rehab for the inheritance.”

She scoffs as she crosses her arms.
“You sure didn’t choose it for me.”

“No. I choose to get help FOR me.”

There's nothing more painful than holding back yourself from ranting about a character that you just love, but the book ended up being..... Flat . Not only was I dissapointed with the book as a whole, it took me EONS to finish the books. No, it wasn't the 500++ pages, nor was it the slow pacing ( as it made sense with the theme ).... but this book just lacks.. Chemistry

In other words. Its bland as heck

It got all the tropes that I will usually go crazy over:-
✨ Second - chance love (in which he/she was not cheating)
✨ Found - family (this is my kryptonite. Throw me this trope anytime I will gobble it up)
✨ Vulnerable male characters
✨ CHILDHOOD LOVERS
✨ Smalltown Romance

And DESPITE ALL THAT => I still felt this book lacks chemistry .

Don't get me wrong , I love Callahan with all my heart. And I don't even mind going through a few hundred pages of how he will be overcoming his addiction because let's face it, its not the easiest thing to do. But GOOD LORD, Alana and him was NOT THE MATCH . Periodt. No chemistry. Nada. I felt NOTHING . The only time I teared up was of Cal hating himself over and over again, but Alana? Nope. And Good Lord I tried.

The prose of the story is pretty simple. Alana and Cal had a falling-over, mostly due to Cal's addiction, and fast forward few years later, due to the will, Cal went back to Lake Wisteria to finish his part of the will, where he met again the love of his life Alana. This is a story of addiction, overcoming your self-hatred and most importantly about trust.

And that sounds lovely and all... when its not.

Let's start off with what went wrong with this book.
1) Let's all just address the elephant in the room - Alana IS the problem in this book.

Oh God I TRIED. SO. DESPERATELY to understand her. I get her. I get her frustrations. I get why she's acting the way she is. I totally get it. But even until the end, she just came off as a b**** to Cal. Why the heck would you continue a relationship if you can't even trust this person. Like again, I get your past but, how Lauren wrote Alana to me felt injustice to her character because she's much more than this insecure person who cannot communicate with this person that she's in love with. Like I refuse to believe she's that low, but I blame this on Lauren (sorry still love you) cause Alana was just meh.

2) There were so many repetitive scenes

In cases like addiction and etc, I get the spiral and the scenes that comes with it. ITS THE CHASE THAT WAS NOT IT FOR ME. I don't know but I feel that Alana and Cal's chemistry just felt.. off. I was supposed to swoon over their relationship as they had known each other since they were young and YET ... I don't feel nothing :') Like anything ......

3) The whole book felt like rushed.. .even with the 500++ pages

You'll be surprised that even with almost 600 pages.. I felt that the author just wanted to finish off this book once for all. And it icks me. I tried to not see it but the last few chapters just felt so so rushed. (view spoiler)

Now the good parts...
Just the Kane brothers interactions as a general.

Now this part of the book was what made me still gave this book the rating that it is. Even if I was pissed as heck, the overall closure for the Kane brothers made me smile. The trauma that the three of them faced was uncalled for, and because Seth Kane is major a**hole, no he deserved what he got. The whole interaction of them as a family together was what pulled this book thru at the end.

I have a love and hate relationship with this book. Not with the drama when it first came out with the different spines (lol), and the stroyline that should have made me cried and teared up - as it spoke of very important topics and representations - felt just flat to me. Sincerely wished for a better ending for Cal, but hey, its the end of the series anyways. I'll just be living with the fact that Cal got the fairytale that he hoped for.

3.75🌟 (and i still feel im being generous here)

Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks for this copy!

Witty, peculiar and oddly heartbreaking. Its a book that is quite odd at times but surprisingly will catch your heart in ways that you did't expected it too.

There is something so strange and unusual in this book but yet it captivates you from the stories and Atwood's writing. It has a strange uniqueness that compels you to finish the stories till the very end, not knowing what you will find in the next story. Will it be an ode to your dead cat? Or having a conversation with George Orwell through a spiritual medium? Or well, you know, the occurence of a human with the soul of a snail trapped inside them? Yes - you'd never know what you'll find through the pages which makes this book has its own character.

Personal Ratings : 4🌟

The book is a collection of 15 short stories that has been divided into Three Parts .
Part I and Part III are of the same characters - but with different timelines. Its the story of two old couples Nell and Tig and their occurence. Part I focuses more on the experiences of the couple together - and Part III is more of coping through life of them as their own.

Part II of the book takes us to a wide variety of stories. Some were written in the pandemic and is experimental to a fault. Some can take you to talking with spirits and going through the notions of known leaders.

But through all of the parts, the recurring themes are of loneliness, after effects of the war, and mostly of death and grief , in ways to cope with them.

I won't write out all of my thoughts for the short stories, as I feel that it will spoil the experience of reading it, but here are some of my top stories from each parts.

Part I: Tig & Nell
There are three short stories in here which focuses more on the weird occurences that both of this couple had encountered together. My fav story would be the last story.

Morte De Smudgie - 4.5🌟
Its a story of an ode to their dead cat, where its witty but also very heartbreaking. It shows how people cope through grief in multiple ways and that there are no right ways to cope with grief - rather its best to do whatever we think suits us best. This ode to their dead cat made my heart ached as there are no greater pain in losing the pet that is also a part of your own soul.

Part II: The Evil Mother
Most of the stories in Part II are peculiar and mostly weird but gosh they were so , so intriguing. The title of Part II is taken from one of the famous short stories that Atwood has written and I had enjoyed it as well. Out of the 8 short stories in this section, I will talk about the Top 3 stories that caught my heart :

1) Metempsychosis: or The journey of The Soul - 5 Brilliant 🌟

This is one of the most peculiar stories I've read and the ending somewhat reminded me of The Vegetarian written by Han Kang. The story of the soul of a snail that has been trapped into a woman's body and how it transgresses from questioning its existence altogether. Its a story that is set in the borderlines of psychosis and fantasy, in which may or may not be true. Atwood's writing for me shone in here where the story is so peculiar and yet, it got me invested in which she ended in a very depressed tone at the end. Its the epitome of loneliness and how people try to cope with them. (And side note - I found out some very interesting facts about snails haha)

2) The Dead Interview - 4.75🌟

This is another very interesting short story that caught my heart. Its a conversation of Atwood herself with the late George Orwell, through a spiritual medium. Not only is this story interesting, it also showed a side of Orwell that made me want to pick up 1984 really fast. Atwood had highlighted the after effects of the post-war until the modern world and I find that the conversation is very endearing. Its like seeing Atwood being a fangirl herself writing to her favourite author , and true to the words that she wrote; there are different ways of being alive.

Orwell, even if being dead for a long time already; his works are still relevant until today. The fact that he had predicted a lot of things back during the time of World War II that is relevant in our future now showed how much alive he still is even if he's not physically here. I kind of understood the message that Atwood had tried to bring forward with this story and is one that had made me a bit teary at the end.

3) Death by Clamshell - 4.75🌟

A story from the POV of Hypatia from Alexandria, and one that is heartbreaking. Atwood higlighted on the violence of war, especially on women at the time and how it had made one of the most intelligent scholars at the time dead in the hands of men - scorned due to her intelligence and beauty. Atwood wrote the POV of Hypatia beautifully, on her loneliness but also her regrets of not being able to do more. Its one of the shortest stories in the book and yet it was one of the most impactful ones. It contemplates on the existence of a person and whether or not the prints that you have left in your life are significant or not and it made the story one that I will remember for a very long time.

Part III: Nell & Tig
Part III consisted of the same couple from Part I, but focuses more on a different topic, on moving on and of grief. All 4 stories for me is like walking through a memory lane and it left me with a bit of heartache after each of the ending.

Overall, this book consisted of a collection of short stories that is wide and showed the variety of Atwood's writing. Its filled with life, peculiar at times and definitely has a deeper message that it led on.
My advice going into the book :-
1) Don't skip the parts - as they are somewhat interconnected with each other
2) Some stories does not make sense but just enjoy the ride.

Recommended. Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks for this copy!

Hauntingly beautiful and suffocating to a fault.

A heartfelt story that tugs your heart at the deepest parts - to a point that it feels stifling. It will rip your heart out as we go in deeper and deeper into the narrator's train-of-thought ; somewhere that its like falling into an abyss of absolute nothingness.

There's something almost ethereal to this story - in terms of how it feels like to be reading into the narrator's thoughts - in which it felt almost like a blurred line between the past and the future; between reality and what is not.

Reading the background story of the author and her previous work Will and Testament: A Novel, ( which I haven't read , but had gone through an interview of hers ) , in which the author narrates the story as like an autofiction of the strenuous relationship between her family, especially the one she has with her mother. Whilst the author neither confirms nor denies this, its somewhat almost looking through the lens of a person who has gone through such lengths and pains of their own and can be felt through the narration of the story.

The narrator named as Johanna is a sixty year old woman who is in hopes to reconcile with her mother - (view spoiler) - in which she had walked out from her family. Its a constant journey of narration in proses that seemed like a journal of sorts - going back and forth to her childhood and the present in which she tries to find out truths about her past and present.

Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟

The story had highlighted the complex relationships between mother and daughter and how a falling out can cause even a sixty year old woman to act out of what her age should have acted. It came to a point that the narrator became somewhat obsessed in what she 'felt' her mother will act or think - in somewhat giving voice to her mother - and following her every move. Honestly, in the case of the narrator and her mother, it won't be easy to pinpoint who is right and who is wrong. Their relationship and strain stems from generational trauma and the mental abuse that both the narrator and her mother had faced. It manifested into a series of blames and hurtful retorts , and lastly souring and burning the bridges of the relationship.

Honestly, there's nothing hopeful about the story. It cuts your breath even if there were pages that has only a one-liner. The story is written in proses of thoughts in which you felt that you're intruding the deepest parts of the narrator in which she is at her most vulnerable. Whilst its suffocating, you won't be able to stop reading the story as the writing is so compelling, you'd be left only to want to finish the story, to find out if the narrator gets what she aims to get in the first place.

The sense of helplessness and the narrator's hopeful wish to reconcile with her mother felt almost realistic. Not something that is easy to read, but is a read that I will remember for a very long time. The complex feelings that it left me after finishing it, makes the story a one that I felt worth of the International Booker Prize Longlist.

A read that I didn't expect to like as much - but I took quite a liking to it.
More heavily-romance-focused-fantasy-book, Divine Rivals is a story that had got me giggling and smiling and fearing for the character's lives, and showed the realities of war and how it can take so much from a person.

I feel that its been awhile since I was ensnared into what I would say leaning more on New Adult Fantasy, and the writing reminds me a bit of what Cassandra Clare could do. Its enchanting and captivating and it makes you intrigued to learn more of the world and story.

Plot
The story is set in a world where magic is subtly infused in each of the lives of the people. Divided into the West, East, North and Southern towns - and heavily influenced by the Gods and the Lore ; is a story that is mainly based from the POV of two young-to-be-journalists, Roman Kitt and Iris Winnow. In a town called Oath in the East, where Iris's brother set on a journey to fight in the name of the God - Enva, she is set to become a journalist with her competitor Roman Kitt. In an incident where enchanted letters were exchanged - its a story of a love and betrayal , and of war and its hardships, and the bitter truths of how the people of power can affect the lives of people to the very end.

Plot-wise
This book had a steady plot going on and I feel that it progresses quite fast. I do wish that more of the Gods were actually there or - to even get a chapter of them on what is actually going on - I do like how the author had highlighted the hardships of war and how Writing can actually save the lives of many people, and this is shown in the acts of true journalism. I liked the subtle politics, where the Gazette - the one who reports the news on Oath - is held high in prestige in society , only to report what's beneficial to the people of power. The spirits of the act of journalism itself - in which to write stories that actually matters - is what made this book appealing to me. I liked that the setting of the book has a bit of a different setting to the normal fantasy books that we are used to and the fact that the author highlighted writing and putting out stories of the war to be the main goal - makes it a story that made me compelled to finish it to the very end.

Character - Wise
The book is set in the third POV and I liked that we get to know the two main characters of their own. Iris Winnow is a character that came to love. She is smart, independent, and she takes help when she needed. She's headstrong but not stubborn enough to be stupid (which I find annoying in most female characters in fantasy books), and I loved that she takes heart in what she does.

Roman... is... ***sighs***** Gosh I love him :')

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of Romance Fantasy (more of a genre preference) , but this one hits just right for me. I liked how both Roman and Iris came together, and I loved how their rivalry turned out to be something beautiful and sweet. Gosh Chapter 34 (the author quoted this at her acknowledgements) - it was something else :') Loved this two :')

Magic System
I would say that the magical aspects of the book is more on the lore and the tidbits of magic infused in the world building itself. I would call this more of a Historical Romance Fantasy (if we want to go into specifics). The lore for me is quite unique and I honestly can't wait for the second book to come out to find out more of the two Gods that are currently fighting at their wits end - using humans as their props for war. I just hope that the auhtor would include more POV's of the Gods cause I do want to learn more about their motives at the end.

Overall
A read that actually took me by surprise. Can't wait for the sequel to come out cause I want to see how the world and story unfolds at the end.

Recommended!

Personal Ratings: 4🌟

Biggest thank you to Harper Collins and Harper Reach for sending me a beautiful ARC of this novel :)

Vile. Shocking. Dark.
I honestly can't look at flowers the same anymore after reading this.
It was a book that I picked up on a whim ; and managed to read it in one seating , and now my mind is boggled and in jumbled mess.

Korean literatures are stories that will leave you hanging and staring at the wall for a solid few minutes. The nuances would not be for everyone , and the Vegetarian is an extremely uncomfortable to read, but lo behold - as much the story effed me up - it became amongst one of the best books I've read this year. There is a sense of intricateness that only Han Kang can write, and its one that showed the darkness of the human mind - when its separated from its being - to the criticism of the patriarchy integrated in the story. The story is intended to make you feel queasy, uncomfortable and just angry . You'll be angry to the husband of the main character, you'll be angry to the parents who inflicted trauma to the siblings MC , and you'll be angry to how much of an ass every male character in this book is.

The story is written in three POV's - in which each POV showed the different acceptance to the main character's - Yeong Hye - curious case of becoming a Vegetarian. Yes don't come in this book expecting some happy story of a vegetarian. Its the title in the most literal sense that you will feel compulsion and revolted to the demise of Yeong Hye as a human being. This book somewhat reminded me of some books that I came to love like Earthlings by Sayaka Murata and No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai - only this one takes the perspective of extreme Schizophrenia when its at a point where it is uncontrollable and can't be saved. It takes the perspective of the abandonment of one person into living as a human.

Han Kang had written the realities of what the women in South Korea faces, the extreme misogyny and patriarchy that is so deeply ingrained in their society that it leads to women having no means of living her life to the fullest. Its shown in the husband's POV[ where the husband had treated Yeong Hye no more mere like a maid rather than a wife. In fact, the audacity of this person was so absurd that I had laughed at certain parts of the story as he had riled me up so bad. He is one of the examples amongst many men in how they were expected to be treated like royalty and in which if their needs were not fulfilled, they will act as if the body is of his own a (hide spoiler)], and in which the father is also abusive which had affected Yeong Hye to the point of her demise.

Han Kang's writing is not only beautiful but it served in providing a medium in telling a story that is peculiar , dark and heartbreaking at the same time. Yes, you won't be able to understand everything that is going on, but indefinitely, if you look through the lines, there is a part of darkness that lives in everyone that can only be awaken through various trauma implicated in a person's life - and Han Kang had wrote exactly this.

This definitely deserved the winning award for the 2016 International Booker Prize. I would have say kudos to the translator, Deborah Smith for making this book as close to the original text - and possibly, having the nuance of the story to come out beautifully, and done so well.

This book had me bawling my eyes out to a point that my heart just... ACHES. It got me getting my cats and hugging them as I cry my heart out and them looking at me in confusion :')

A wonderfully written story on loneliness, aftereffects of natural disasters and most of all, of the loyalties of animals and how essential they are to mankind.

Before being a cat mom, I never really understood the depth of the relationship between an animal and humans. Sure, I was traumatized by my first pet experience - which had left me sobbing for months when my pet tortoise grew too big and had to be released - and after I tried no to be attached to animals especially. Whilst there were moments of being nice to stray cats, I never really understood that special bond that my friends and family always talked about. And now, when I have my own cats, honestly, this story HITS A LOT HARDER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD .

Dogs especially are known as animals who are loyal and the story took it to the next level. I was honestly sobbing, especially at the last story . The book was divided into 6 short-interconected-stories, where the main character is the dog and how he had gone through the lives of various people- mostly with different backgrounds and circumstances - in which the dog had played an integral part of making their lives at the end better.

The overall theme of the book centres around Loneliness and how Desperation and Poverty had led to humans making some of the worst decisions of their lives. The stories are not only heartwrenching, but they tug a string at the deepest parts of our heart - where the loneliness resides - in which we can emphatize with most of what had happened to the people in the stories. What I loved is that the author had brought forward characters that are mostly deemed as menaces in society, troublemakers and people that has no hope in life. These people plays an integral part of our society that shows how bad environment and circumstances had led them to lead their lives as such. Not all of the characters are likeable, but they all share one thing in common - in which - at the end, they were all lonely souls who needed a companion to accompany them.

The author had also highlighted the devastation of natural disasters and the impacts from the tsunami that had hit Japan a few years ago. Due to the geographical structure of Japan itself, it is not a new known fact that the occurrence of earthquakes had been often to the country - but we don't always see how it had not only impacted the economy , but also the lives of the people that had lost their homes, lost their families and ultimately losing themselves as well. The stories of pet animals are not often highlighted in novels and I applaud the author for bringing forward the theme into the story. It showed how at the end, humans and animals and beings of kinds has a bond that interconnects us together, sometimes in ways that we can never imagine.

This is a book that had made me just sobbed- eventho I was sure I wouldn't cry for this one. The simple and straightforward writing but with a nuance that will make you reflect of the things in life, makes it a story that should be read by everyone. Highly recommended!

Personal Ratings : 4.5🌟

Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy!

A collection of essays compiled by the exhibition lead curator of Victoria and Albert Museum on the Korean Wave - by some industry key players in the South Korean Entertainment industry. Backed by the Ministry of Cultural of South Korea, Hallyu!: The Korean Wave is a beautifully curated sort of - take on the Hallyu culture and what makes it the way it is.

Informative. Intriguing. An engaging read - especially to the fans and anyone who is familiar with the K-Entertaiment industry.

Personal Ratings: 4.25🌟

Being someone who had dived into the K-Entertaiment industry since she was 10 years old, reading Hallyu! gave me a wider perspective of the insights especially when all the essays had emphasized on the importance of Hallyu culture in developing the South Korea now . As someone who is interested in the workings of the country itself, the fact that South Korea had actually been one of the worst country in the world's GDP especially during the IMF - and now it became one of the most talked about countries in the world ; and that is in conjunction and thanks to the hallyu culture.

Its interesting to see how the hallyu culture had changed the trajectory of the country - including the political, cultural and even the hospitality of the country in accepting tourists. Not only that the hallyu culture had brought in multiple technological advances and influence ; such as BTS being models for Samsung at a time and multiple famous actors like Gong Yoo becoming Coway's brand ambassador, is the fact that even the politicians are using the influence of these hallyu stars to create policies in favour of the people. Whilst there are repercussions to that - in terms of the chaebol families leading the economical aspects of the country - the undeniable truth is how hallyu played such a major influence in shaping the country as a whole that ; quoted by one of the authors - Lee Soo Man , the founder of SM Entertainment the cultural aspects of the country is shaped by the hallyu culture and not the other way round .

The popularity of certain shows like Running Man, 2 Days 1 Night and K-Dramas that had led the world by storm - in a sense that its different from the American TV Shows ; with its melancholic vibe, to the cinematography and historical aspects of the scriptwriting, the hallyu culture has integrated and given exposure to the country's economical drive and shaped how the politicians in the country to create policies within the culture itself.

Whilst the book is quite factual - as it was written by industry players, it also gave a wider perspective of the culture itself and the fascination of how it had not only increased the jobs available for the country - its the fascination of how whilst the hallyu culture had a modern take, it showed how it plays an important part in actually preserving the cultural aspects of the country itself - like how Kimchi making is now something that wants to be learnt by everyone and the practice of fermenting itself is during the times of the war where the country was once a poor country unknown by the world.

A very interesting read and I definitely loved the images and illustrations that comes with it. Loved it.
Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy :)

Permulaan kepada siri baru Kronikel Dewata, Batara Guru merupakan kisah aksi paranormal fantasi- berlatar belakangkan Kuala Lumpur yang sudah musnah dan hancur, dan dunia dipisahkan kepada Dunia Langit dan Dunia Darat. Kisah yang sarat dengan pengajaran dan dewa-dewa lama, ia menjadi titik permulaan yang menarik kepada sebuah dunia fantasi yang mengerikan dan akan mencabar kepercayaan seseorang jikalau tidak teguh pegangannya kepada agama.

Personal Ratings : 3.75🌟

Aku rasa agak tertarik novella ini kerana ia telah dipecahkan kepada beberapa buku baru dan aku kira ending kepada buku pertama ini telah meninggalkan pembaca dengan tanda tanya dan rasa berkobar untuk lebih tahu apa yang telah terjadi. Adakah perkara yang berlaku semua ini betul-betul terjadi atau ia hanya permainan penulis dengan mengaburi pembaca dengan perspektif dan angle yang berbeza terhadap penceritannya.

Aku kira dari segi Gaya Penulisan dan Transisi daripada satu babak cerita ke babak cerita lain ; ada sedikit rasa carca merba yang bakal menimbulkan confusion kepada pembaca, namun ia bukanlah suatu masalah yang besar dan tidak menghalang enjoyment untuk menghabiskan buku ini. Buku ini aku kira sangat fast-paced dan bahasanya tidak terlalu susah untuk difahami, dan novela ini boleh dihabiskan sekali harung dalam one seating .

World-building cerita ini agak menarik kerana ia mengambil scene dunia kita sekarang tetapi yang sudah dibahagikan kepada dua dunia yang berbeza. Tambahan juga dengan watak utama cerita yang sangat berpegang teguh kepada agama - ia memberi perspektif dan pengajaran yang agak straightforward ; iaitu, orang yang baik dugannya banyak tetapi jikalau kepercayaan kepada Ilahi itu kuat, nescaya akan ada jalan penyelesaiannya. Aku rasa flow cerita senang untuk dibaca dan rasa kagum kerana penulis berjaya memasukkan unsur-unsur dewa purba yang wujud ke dalam cerita ini.

For a novel with less than 200 pages, it has managed to exceed my expectations. Paired with the beautiful cover, it did great as the first book in the series. I do think that the author can explain a bit more on what has happened to some things , but that may be explored in the later books in the series.

Kepada anda yang suka kepada animasi Jujutsu Kaisen dengan tambahan unsur pahlawan Islam, buku ini adalah buku terbaik untuk anda. Definitely an intriguing read and I can't wait to read the rest of the series .

Terima kasih kepada pihak Penerbit X dan PTS Media untuk naskhah buku ini!

My heart hurts. Like its in so much pain.

This book has no reason to make me feel this much heartache; and yet it did.

Simply wicked and extremely well-written

The fact this book made me had the same feelings after reading any Higashino novels - says a lot about the story. Its cruel. Its vicious and its still so bloody heartbreaking . It really shows how adults can really affects a child's perspective and upbringing, either in choosing to be good or to be evil.

And that's the part of society that has to be blamed - to the adults that didn't know any better.
___
The premise of the story is simple. ( I won't be telling much so it will be as spoiler free as possible )
Its of:
- Three Children who saw something that they shouldn't have.
- A murderer who didn't think he was going to get caught.
- A scheme of multiple plans that may or may not gone astray.
- A retired police officer who holds an objective ground.

Combined altogether to get a plot that will break your heart, showed how much children's lives are affected due to the irresponsible decisions of the adults around them, and mostly, of how much the society had failed to protect those who needed protection the most.
___
If you eventually come to my review after reading the book, know that I don't condone ANY actions done by ANYONE in here nor do I support the children's behaviours as well. I would say the author had done just a splendid job in building the characters in the story. Each character was flawed to a fault and yet, the feeling of not knowing who to blame will undoubtedly questions your moral, it will also hit a bullet to your heart for how unfair situations and desperations had lead to to a change of events that will change the trajectory of a person's life forever.

I feel that the author is smart and just... wicked in his own way. He had subtly included the faults of the system interlaced with the story itself. How society and class can ruin a person's judgment, how broken homes and foundations leads to a child's demise. Reading it makes me SO. FREAKING. FRUSTRATED. Who should I blame? Can this person change? Why do they have to end up the way they did?

Its amazing that the span of 326 pages has gotten me to feel so much. The writing is not only engaging but it will make you question yourself again and again - who is at fault? I also feel that its clever of the author to subtly include who I feel is supposedly the main character ( like Yukawa ) in the book. The professor's moral compass is somewhat familiar - in a sense of the characteristic in which made it have a Higashino vibe to it. (and no I'm not comparing these two authors but more of letting people know the feel of it.

I would say its a novel that will leaves you to question and ponder a lot, but its also a reminder to us to be kind to ourselves - especially when our lives were beaten from the start due to our environment.

5 Amazing Stars This book gave me such a whirlwind of emotions - I almost can't handle it.
Biggest thank you to the translator : Michelle Deeter and biggest kudos to Pushkin Press for putting out great translated works. And my biggest gratitude is to @definitelybooks for this copy, I can't put in words how thankful I am.