Hiroko Oyamada

I'd probably have to give this a 2.75, rounding up. I generally like stories told with multiple perspectives but it was very unclear as to which character was speaking for each new section until something specific was mentioned (moss, coworkers, birds, etc). None of the "chapter" breaks label which character we're following and they all read incredibly similar- making this kind of a difficult read for me. Otherwise though, I did like that perspectives started syncing up near the end, allowing you to get multiple interpretations of the characters interacting with each other. Too bad it was only for about 10 pages of the book.

As far as the story goes, I've noticed that I like the almost "surreal" novellas that a lot of Japanese authors seem to have, but this one is a little too abstract for me. Maybe I'm bad at reading between the lines or something, but the ending left me sitting there quite confused- it seemed rushed. I hope to have better luck with another book of hers, The Hole, that I plan to read soon.… (more)