Welcome to Litsy!

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“You were the one who told me about the town. On that summer evening we were heading up the river, the sweet fragrance of grass wafting over us. We passed over several little weirs that held back the flowing sand, stopping from time to time to gaze at the delicate silvery fish wriggling in the pools. We had both been barefoot for a while. The cold water washed over our ankles, while the fine sand at the bottom of the river enveloped our feet like

Yoshie‘s father dies along with his mistress and Yoshie and her mother have come to terms with both having a death and the circumstances.
And they do, after moving to an old neighborhood in Tokyo, where they live and work and eat. Again, food plays in important role in a Japanese story!
It‘s a very Japanese novel, quiet and melancholic. A light pick.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #Japan #ATY25 #IntriguingTitle

First finished book of 2025! There seemed to be some missed potential in not connecting the individual vignettes but otherwise it‘s a nice cozy book! Apparently GoodReads has a list of cozy translated novels….and I‘ve read several. This genre is my jam! Thanks, Rachel, for sharing this book with me! I really enjoyed it! #LitsyLove

I‘m a Murakami fan, but I just could not get into this story. Bailing, but I may try it again when I‘m feeling smarter.

I loved this book. I was expecting something like The Memory Police, but instead I got a coming of age story about a girl who goes to live with wealthy relatives for a year. Written in a light way even though it touches on some dark topics, this book was easy to read and perfect for cold winter mornings when you just can‘t face getting up yet.

Libraries, jazz, literary references, ambiguity, cats. A very Murakami-esque novel but not one of my favorites. If you love his writing you will probably appreciate it. But some of the themes, reality vs dreams, consciousness, loneliness, love etc are tackled in better ways in his other novels.

3.5 stars. First read of 2025

My first book of the year - almost-sweet Japanese dystopia. Yoshiro is bringing up his great-grandson Mumei. His generation remain strong and healthy, while the children struggle even to eat, in this isolated Tokyo where the soil is poisoned, there are no wild creatures… So many political/environmental/social themes. Intriguing world building and characters, this would make a great bookclub book to argue over! The story… 🤔 less sure.

My first book of 2025!
I loved the melancholic, dreamy vibe but it did make the abrupt revelation of Yaiyo's past somewhat jarring: I seem to have had more difficulty assimilating it than she herself did.
And I think if you are going to introduce a taboo relationship (or two!) then it really needs to be given more space and depth if the reader is to have any response besides wanting to push it away.