Just when Ren Ishida is finishing grad school, his older sister
Keiko is murdered. They haven’t seen each other in a long time, but they talk
on the phone every week. She has been living in a small town for years and he
knows little of her life there. Ren goes to the town to arrange her funeral and
take care of her unfinished business. Their parents do not show up; they have
been absent as parents for most of Ren’s life, with Keiko pretty much raising
him as she went through school.
The police have no leads; indeed, the police play little
part in the story. This is Ren’s exploration of his late sister’s life- he
immerses himself in her life, taking over her job as an English instructor at a
cram school, and renting her old room in a politician’s house. He learns
something about how her life was led by performing the same functions as she
did. He also finds little clues in odd places, as well as having dreams about a
small child who wants him to figure out who she is.
The story has a blue mood cast over everything, even in more
upbeat moments. The writing reminds me of Haruki Murakami, with bits of magical
realism thrown into Ren’s voyage of discovery about both his sister and
himself. Despite the down mood, I couldn’t put the book down. There are some
things that could have been better, but it’s the author’s first novel. Four and
a half stars.
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I received this book from the Amazon Vine program in return for an unbiased review.
Neither of these things influenced my review.
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