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The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World
The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World: A Novel | Laura Imai Messina
12 posts | 12 read | 22 to read
The international bestselling novel sold in 21 countries, about grief, mourning, and the joy of survival, inspired by a real phone booth in Japan with its disconnected wind phone, a place of pilgrimage and solace since the 2011 tsunami When Yui loses both her mother and her daughter in the tsunami, she begins to mark the passage of time from that date onward: Everything is relative to March 11, 2011, the day the tsunami tore Japan apart, and when grief took hold of her life. Yui struggles to continue on, alone with her pain. Then, one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone booth in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone booth spreads, people travel to it from miles around. Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone booth, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Instead she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of her mothers death. Simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is the signpost pointing to the healing that can come after.
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Jolynne
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This book is about grief and how hopefully, you learn to live with it. From the author “For me, the Wind Phone is mainly this: a metaphor that suggests how precious it is to hold on tight to joy as well as pain.”

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Pogue
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This I give 5 stars too. This book is one I will recommend for people who are grieving. It is full of loss, hope, love and joy.

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Suet624
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Our librarian was inspired by this book to build a wind phone. Several village mental health counselors worked with her to get funds from the Selectboard & the State of Vermont as a way for young & old to express their grief or their problems into the phone. A child recently spent time talking with their cat who had recently died. We‘ve had many villagers pass away recently & the phone is being used a lot. The start of a zen garden is in front.

LeahBergen How lovely! 1y
Deblovestoread Love this! 1y
Ruthiella How wonderful! 1y
See All 8 Comments
Bookwormjillk What a great idea! 1y
JenniferEgnor I love this! The power of community 🌻 1y
Tamra How wonderful! 1y
Suet624 @LeahBergen @Deblovestoread @Ruthiella @bookwormjillk @JenniferEgnor @Tamra The wind phone is situated next to the library. The librarian did a wonderful job of explaining that the community members share their life stories when visiting with the librarians & how the wind phone was a wonderful way for individuals to go even deeper. She mentioned a former board member had been against the idea, but was now kindly accepting calls from heaven. 😍 1y
Hooked_on_books This is really lovely ☺️ 1y
59 likes2 stack adds8 comments
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Nolanreagannana
Pickpick

Such a wonderful book. I really enjoyed it.

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TheGothiqueLibrarian
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A wonderful, easy, and emotional read. This book helped me through a lot of loss and grief. A wonderful book to show how complicated emotions can be, but how simple life really. 💕

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IuliaC
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A very touching story about loss and second chances inspired by the tragic earthquake which occurred in March 2011 in Japan.

Yui is a radio broadcaster in Tokyo submerged by the loss of her daughter and mother to the tsunami. She hears about a phone booth that isn't connected to anything and where many come to confide their voice to the wind and talk to the ones they lost.

If curious how the actual Phone of the Wind looks like: bell-gardia.jp

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Sydneypaige
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I was really interested in this premise - a garden with a phone booth where people can speak to their dead- , but the writing just didn‘t do it for me. It was very slow in a way that I didn‘t feel like served the story and I never felt fully connected to any individual character. I do know it‘s based on a real place and this novel did increase my curiosity in learning more at the very least.

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webhau1
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Blanket and book tonight

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Suet624
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There is a phone booth in Japan where people go to speak to their lost loved ones. Built after the tsunami it is a spiritual site for many. This is a story of several people who move through their life, visiting the phone booth, trying to recover from their loss, and finding love again. Can you surrender to love when you‘ve already had to surrender a loved one to death?

BkClubCare Saw this on the news - there is a farm in Rhode Island that has a phone modeled on this. ♥️ 3y
Suet624 @BkClubCare Really? That‘s interesting. 3y
BarbaraBB It sounds wonderful and reminds me somehow of 3y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB ohh, somehow I missed all the reviews on that one. I‘ll have to check it out. 3y
71 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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BookmarkTavern
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Pickpick

10 years ago an enormous tsunami swept through Japan. This is the story of the healing and hope that can follow after such a loss.

This story follows the developing relationship of Yui and Takeshi. Their lives together show you can rebuild a life that is different than what came before. But it is no less meaningful for being that. And we see how dealing with grief is not a linear path. Grief curls down, arcs sideways, & moves forward. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

BookmarkTavern To be entirely honest, this examination of the humanity and universality of grief is everything that I wanted from The First Phone Call from Heaven. (edited) 4y
98 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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BookmarkTavern
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It‘s raining outside. Time to sit down with some hot chocolate and see if I can‘t finish this book. 🌧

Soubhiville What a fun title! Enjoy it 😊 4y
alysonimagines This sounds like a really interesting story! 4y
78 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Garabrandtreviews
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I got this as an eARC, 20% into the book I ordered it from Book depository. I loved the idea behind it, the choice of phrases, character development.... Everything. What I really want is to find more books similar to this. Any ideas?

6 likes3 stack adds