Reviews and Comments

Shortly after the filming of their amateur movie wraps up and a group of rotten college students take shelter from a sweltering heat of an August day in the only room with an AC unit at a decrepit student dormitory, a disaster occurs! A bottle of coke spills on the AC remote, rendering it broken and unrepairable. With no technician able to fix the remote and no other way to operate the AC, are they going to be doomed and forced to sweat it out until the end of the summer?

When a dorky time traveller from the future shows up in the dorm the next day, with a time machine capable of travelling 99 years to the past or the future, a brilliant idea to go back and save the remote pops up and the plan is unanimously agreed on by everyone, before any of them have time to think about the time paradoxes and their consequences. What follows is a great and comedic scramble to save the time continuum, often only resulting in making things worse. Will the students succeed? And will the main protagonist finally get himself to ask his crush out on a festival when the universe depends on it?

I’m definitely biased based on the fact of my humble self being a great fanboy of Tomihiko Morimi and his works. Still, with the bias all accounted for, I have nothing but praise for Tatami Time Machine Blues. It’s always difficult to write sequels to highly-appraised works, which Tatami Galaxy for sure is, but Tomohiko Morimi managed this job masterfully, if not exceeded in his penmanship. Despite being a story with time machine as it’s central point, this aspect is not too overdone, with characters, their relations and comedic endeavours taking a central stage. Absurdity of the events that unfold, pitiful situation of the protagonist, the perceived devilry of Osu and the traits of others are still carried over from Tatami Galaxy and only developed further, which I think works wonderfully. In short, it’s a Tomohiko Morimi formula for a book bundled with his old characters and sold in a totally new package, what not to love about it?

A fun fact about the book is that it’s actually based on a theatre play by Makoto Ueda! Looking back at the book it should’ve been apparent to me, based on how the timeline only spans two days and the plot can easily be split into separate scenes. Characters of the present and the past also never interact with one another, which of course could not be done in a theatre. If I had friends, especially ones interested in such a project, I would love to meet up and to try acting out Tatami Time Machines Blues, I think that’d be a cool project.

Well, I think I wrote enough. There’s nothing so worthless to speak of as a love mature. Please go ahead and experience the story yourself, dear reader.

The concept of the book fascinated me the moment I read about it for the first time. People living in fear of an authoritarian regime as memories are being forcibly taken away from them? There was certainly a great potential, but sadly, I feel that even though the prose and the general vibe of the novel itself does not disappoint as it kept me hooked all the way to the end, the story, the characters and the many tropes that appeared and then had been left abandoned keep the book down at its core.

I made an entire list of issues I have with the novel, but I want to start things off with some well-deserved praise. “The Memory Police” is written beautifully. I’ll forever remember the scene of the disappearance of the roses. The river coloured red, white and pink as millions of petals had flown down into the sea. How the protagonist felt about it, how she looked at the bare stems of the rose bushes and tried to fill the gap that this disappearance have left. There are many moments like that throughout the book – beautiful and nostalgic. Another trope that I found quite clever is that the protagonist is a writer. While such a thing is often considered cliché, here is serves an important and valid purpose. Because writers are people that make up stories, fill the pages with words that are, in a way, a twisted reflection of the real world, they are also the most effected by things disappearing. There is another novel present within “The Memory Police”, one written by the protagonist that ties very well with the plot of the book and it’s just so satisfying of how the main plot and the plot of that fictional novel converge together at the end.

Now I can finally mention the aspects of the novel that grind my gears and ultimately make it fall short.

The trio of the protagonist, the old man and R works fine in my opinion, and there certainly some moving and memorable lines spoken between them, but it’s quite frustrating just how static they are. It’s blatantly obvious that they exist in the novel only as means to tell the story, not as beings that evolve, develop and feel real.

Next, it is impossible not to draw parallels between “The Memory Police” and “1984” with their dystopian theme. However, in my opinion “The Memory Police” pales in that comparison. Despite being much shorter, “1984” manages to explore the world in detail, flesh out the characters and tell a horrifying, yet compelling story. “The Memory Police” doesn’t really do any of that. We don’t ever get even a remote explanation or a theory of what the motives of the titular organization may be. Why are they making all of these disappearances? Is it because they simply want control? Is there some ideology attached to it? What do they gain from it? Yoko Ogawa never elaborates on that. What’s particularly frustrating in the context is that, for example, at the beginning of the book we get to hear about that secret program of The Memory Police where they put effort into decoding human genome in a way that would allow them to target people who are immune to the disappearances. The protagonist’s neighbour is a researcher working on that program. This could be a good hook worth pursuing, I thought. Eventually though, the man himself is targeted by the authorities, disappears, and we never ever hear about this plot point again. It’s really a minor thing, but there are plenty of such instances, only piling up as the plot continues, so when the book ultimately ended without tying any of them I was left rather disappointed. That is not to say I don’t enjoy any mystery in novels, on the contrary, but “The Memory Police” simply doesn’t provide any base upon which the reader can build a solution, no pieces to assemble the puzzle, so all that remains is confusion.

I was so lucky to have unintentionally read “Tower of the Sun” just before Christmas season, as its story follows the misadventures of a twentysomething year old student in Kyoto just before this famous holiday. However, unlike the jolly, merry atmosphere that families and lovers indulge themselves in during that time, the mood of the protagonist and his male compatriots couldn’t be further from it. They are rather lonely, live in a constant state of gloominess, self-loathing, all while having a superiority complex on their own, declaring war against the tackiness of love and the so-called “Christmas fascism”, all while craving, from the bottom of their hearts, simple happiness.

The protagonist spends his days in a small room, only occasionally interrupted by trips to a grocery store, various book stores, video shop (to tame his inner beast) and most importantly, to stalk his ex (he vigorously fights back against the label of the stalker though and calls it “a research project”). He hasn’t set foot at any lecture halls at his university campus in months. The only productive thing he’s involved in is the occasional shift at a local sushi restaurant. In the eyes of society he’s certainly considered a failure, but in his own eyes, his genius, greatness and the mind of the visionary terrify an average person.

The brilliance of the novel comes from the fact that despite the obvious shortcomings of the protagonist and his way of thinking, he really is a good guy, and anyone who has ever been heartbroken or struggled during the early adulthood can find a reflection of themselves in the man. Personally, I am still going through something uncannily similar and I could portray myself in the many wayward thoughts of his, all while having no hope for the state of the matters to improve. “Tower of the Sun” resonates with me at a deep level, it makes me feel understood. Despite all doom and gloom, however, there might be hope in life, both for the protagonist and the reader.

Leaving the story aside, I could not conclude this review without mentioning the absolutely incredible style of Tomihiko Morimi’s writing and the way it’s been translated into English. Oh how many times have I laughed from the bottom of my heart at the passages that often, despite their mundaneness or absurdness, were written in such a humorous and euphemistic manner. How often I felt transported onto the streets of Kyoto and Osaka, with their detailed and vibrant descriptions. Sprinkle a thin layer of magic and mystery on top and you get a perfect literary mixture. I don’t think there is any other author who comes close.

Wholeheartedly recommended.

K. arrives at a snow-covered village, enshadowed by a castle, hoping to start a work there as a surveyor. His arrival immediately attracts the attention and suspicion of the locals. While at first he receives a room and assistants to help him in his work, what follows is, what can be described best, as a series of misunderstandings, conflicts and reproaches. As it turns out, nobody at the village knows why K. was even summoned there in the first place, as there is no need for the surveyor at all. However, it could not have been a mistake, as the bureaucratic machinery at the castle never makes mistakes. In attempts to clarify this situation, K. tries to get a hold of his supposed superior, but he’s never allowed to talk to him directly. Castle gentlemen are seemingly too important, too sensitive and have too much work for such a meeting to happen. K. then talks to lower ranking officials, who only muddy the waters more, struggles with his childish assistants, gets engaged to the mistress of said superior, tries to send messages to him through a messenger, who almost always comes back hopeless and empty-handed, gets kicked out of the inn and has to take a temporary position of a janitor in order to have a place to sleep and so this entire farce goes on, with things usually not turning out well for the protagonist.

Throughout the book Kafka describes, with great detail, the absurdity of how castle officials work, how villagers revere them almost like gods, how they have to assume so many things, how many unspoken rules there are among them, which leads to incessant conflicts with K. who is a newcomer. However, this is also, in my experience, what makes this book pretty difficult to follow and understand at times. There are entire chapters of nothing but one or two characters monologuing and often describing deep hypothetical scenarios and debating a certain topic, a certain rule, with no real action or actual conversation, which often made me go back and reread the page to fully grasp the concept.

In conclusion, I quite liked “The Castle” with its spectacle of absurdity, a deep fear of not being able to fit in and be understood that it managed to invoke in me at times, with so well-written characters and their exaggerated traits, but reading this book was not easy. Like with other Kafka works, “The Castle” also doesn’t have a real ending, it cuts off in the middle of a sentence. Oh how I wish to know how Kafka wanted to conclude this story and also the story of “The Trial”, but this, unfortunately, is going to remain a mystery forever.

The Lord of The Rings has been on my radar for many years. It’s definitely one of the greatest fantasy classics, if not the greatest, so as a fan of the genre I wanted to get around to reading it at some point and get enchanted by the magic of Middle-Earth, like millions of other readers throughout the decades. Now, at the end of this journey, after turning over the last page of "The Return of the King" I can confidently say that my expectations were exceeded and I loved every page of this fantastic trilogy.

Tolkien had a great gift of crafting a world full of detailed mythology, great wonders and noble characters going into a battle not only against the forces of evil in general, but also emotions like dread, hopelessness or betrayal. That is to say, despite all the incredible magic, the characters feel real. The hobbits, the men, the elves, the wizards – even if they have a great deal of history behind them, even if they know the ancient words, even if they hold powerful artifacts, they are ultimately driven by their selflessness, aspirations, despair or greed.

I also admire how every journey undertaken in the book holds its ground if terms of travelled distance, time and supplies consumed by the adventurers. It’s really immersive and adds weight to the obstacles characters stumble upon on the way to their destination. It’s not about just moving from point A to point B, but solving troubles along the way, changing paths, avoid being spotted, encountering fascinating inhabitants of the land – all of this playing out in a way that makes you feel like a part of the company, sharing their problems and their path.

I think these aspects are what makes The Lord of The Rings such a beloved series, which I too, will hold close to my heart.

Lastly, I’m really glad that Tolkien took time to give us some sort of closure at the end of The Return of The King. Many fantasy books end shortly after the concluding events, with some short epilogue at best, but here we got to see what the Fellowship of the Ring was up to after fighting against Sauron, we got “The Scouring of the Shire”, “Grey Havens” and reading those final chapters really made me at peace, for which I’m grateful.

The Lord of The Rings has been on my radar for many years. It’s definitely one of the greatest fantasy classics, if not the greatest, so as a fan of the genre I wanted to get around to reading it at some point and get enchanted by the magic of Middle-Earth, like millions of other readers throughout the decades. Now, at the end of this journey, after turning over the last page of "The Return of the King" I can confidently say that my expectations were exceeded and I loved every page of this fantastic trilogy.

Tolkien had a great gift of crafting a world full of detailed mythology, great wonders and noble characters going into a battle not only against the forces of evil in general, but also emotions like dread, hopelessness or betrayal. That is to say, despite all the incredible magic, the characters feel real. The hobbits, the men, the elves, the wizards – even if they have a great deal of history behind them, even if they know the ancient words, even if they hold powerful artifacts, they are ultimately driven by their selflessness, aspirations, despair or greed.

I also admire how every journey undertaken in the book holds its ground if terms of travelled distance, time and supplies consumed by the adventurers. It’s really immersive and adds weight to the obstacles characters stumble upon on the way to their destination. It’s not about just moving from point A to point B, but solving troubles along the way, changing paths, avoid being spotted, encountering fascinating inhabitants of the land – all of this playing out in a way that makes you feel like a part of the company, sharing their problems and their path.

I think these aspects are what makes The Lord of The Rings such a beloved series, which I too, will hold close to my heart.

Lastly, I’m really glad that Tolkien took time to give us some sort of closure at the end of The Return of The King. Many fantasy books end shortly after the concluding events, with some short epilogue at best, but here we got to see what the Fellowship of the Ring was up to after fighting against Sauron, we got “The Scouring of the Shire”, “Grey Havens” and reading those final chapters really made me at peace, for which I’m grateful.

One of the things that I absolutely adore about "The Shadow of the Torturer" is definitely the setting. The story takes place in the far future, after humans built enormous cities, walls, citadels and most importantly spaceships that could reach other stars. It's mostly a mystery of what happened since then, but during the timeline of the book we're left with a planet that's full of marvelous technologies, bordering on magic and a class of nobility that can still somehow utilize it. Yet, the vast majority of the population are simple folk, cast back to an equivalent of the middle ages, who don't understand the world around them at all and to them, technology is more akin to myth and legend.

The story itself follows Severian - an apprentice in the guild of torturers, who due to some certain events leaves his home to perform his work somewhere else (I'm trying to spoil too much alright?). He sees many wonders along his path of life and he's trying to understand the world around him, but in the end he experiences first hand how cruel life can be.

Now, I think the prologue itself is quite amazing, but after that the book lost a lot of its charm in my eyes. The characters Severian meets since then are rather flat and just leave (or die) after fulfilling their purpose. Somehow Severian ends up with multiple lovers and he's a guy who just can't look at a woman and not desire them, which I guess can be natural, but I can't help but cringe on such descriptions in most books. It made my remember why I disliked the Witcher. Another issue is that the language in the book is stylized as ancient. It means there are a ton of Latin and archaic words, plus a lot more made-up ones. I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, it enhances the atmosphere, but it did make the book hard to follow.

Overall I quite liked "The Shadow of the Torturer", all things considered, but I'm still not sure if I'm going to come back to the series.

(Read as part of a book club) I'm conflicted about "The Lost Bookshop". Looking back at it, it's not bad and I was able to finish it without giving up. However, as it usually is, a book that you didn't have high hopes for, but it turns out okayish leaves a better impression than one which you really liked the premise of, but it falls short. "The Lost Bookshop" is the latter for me. Let me explain.

The book follows a story across two different timelines, which are interconnected. About 100 years in the past there is Opaline - a woman running away from home and his abusive brother to work as a book dealer, traveling around, while being hunted, trying to find a place for herself. In the present the story follows two people. The first one is Martha - a woman who also runs away from her home, from an abusive husband, to work as a servant for a mysterious character. The other person is Henry - an university graduate, hunting for a lost manuscript, one that he suspects, could've been stored in the titular lost bookshop.

Now, I thought that the premise of the book is amazing. However, my problem with the execution is that, the bookshop is not that important really. 4/5th of the book just follows the character's intertwined stories and, while it has some amazing or really terrifying moments, most of it plays out like a telenovela. The characters are pretty one-dimensional. There are plenty of serious topics involved, but none truly developed. Hearts are constantly being broken, everyone has to get in terms with their pasts, there is love, kissing, sex, abuse, murder, constant misunderstandings, that made me roll my eyes in so many cases. While I understand that relationships aren't that easy in real life, especially when there are elements like past abuse involved, I just couldn't stomach most of this drama that just dragged on and on. Another issue is that you can usually see the plot twists coming from the mile away, since there is an insight from the past and many patterns repeat themselves. I'm disappointed because it could've really been a better book.

Edit: My book club came to the almost unanimous conclusion that the book is mostly trash, so it's not just a me problem

“Less is More” is an eye-opening book that goes in detail about the rise, mechanisms and threat of capitalism. As people, governments and corporations continue their business as usual - ploughing through forests, extracting copious amounts of resources and accelerating mindless consumerism, the threat of our civilization’s downfall through the irreversible effects of climate change looms closer. Is it possible to stop it? Perhaps, but it will require for us to move away from the ever-unsustainable ideas of endless growth, Jason Hickel argues and establishes “degrowth” as the new model countries around the world should follow and gives examples of a few already successful transformations. Ideas of equality, healthcare, ecology and post-consumerism, among many others, contribute to “degrowth” and are going to be essential for creating sustainable future. It is not about asceticism, as one may fear, but about flourishing.

I hope this book finds its way to as many people around the world as possible. For me, it destroyed many assumptions I had about how our economy and our relation with the environment works. It highlighted the issues of the ever-present chase for more GDP growth, consumerism and how capitalism often creates and feeds on artificial scarcity to unnecessarily produce and sell more things.

I hope humanity can address all of these issues in this century. However, there is still doubt at the back of my mind. To implement the ideas “Less is More” presents, it basically requires that mythical world peace, in order for countries to stop growing, producing so much military hardware and flexing their muscles on the international stage. And as things stand right now, we’re unfortunately not headed in that direction.

Aoyama goes to an elementary school in a small, but rapidly expanding town, with its back towards a mountainside. Even though he’s just a child, he already made plans on how to become a full-grown adult. He decided, at the age of 5, to never get mad again. He’s always calm, calculating and disciplined, waking earlier than his parents or his sister. He’s busy every day with research projects, writing and sketching in his notebook, exploring the town with his friend Uchida, going to the cafe and the dentists’ office. It is in the dentists’ office that he first met “the lady” – a mysterious woman that eventually becomes a topic of his research, perhaps the most difficult research of his life. That is saying a lot, considering that one day Aoyama, along with his friends who join him later - Uchida and Hamamoto - decide to investigate a mysterious phenomena that started happening in their city recently – penguins and other unusual creatures appearing in random places and a strange object floating in the forest. Will these science kids be able to solve this mystery and learn along the way? Well, I read the book so I already know the ending. I won’t say much but it my opinion it delivers a great, even if open-ended, conclusion to the story.

Once again, Tomohiko Morimi manages to deliver a fantastic light novel that hooks you on since the very beginning. I absolutely love the atmosphere, I could vividly paint the town Aoyama lives in when reading the book, I constantly made elaborate solutions to Aoyama’s problems, I smiled when he and “the lady” talked, and I felt anger whenever the bully Suzuki messed with Aoyama and Uchida. I adore these kids. It could easily become one of my favourite books.

"I made a record in my notebook of how it felt sitting alone at that window, but reading it over now, I don’t feel like it captured those feelings at all. I wasn’t able to reproduce it accurately. I’ve only felt like that once in my entire life. I have learned it is extremely difficult to write proper account of once-in-a-lifetime experiences."

I think this book has a ton of valuable insights into how you can extract value from online services and improve your lifestyle, by setting rules in place about access to "new tech", recalculating if social media really gives you the promised value or have you fallen into its addiction trap, taking walks and getting bored again to boost creativity and many more. Everyone can pick up this book, read it, and start applying at least some of it's rules in everyday life, which I did too, and I think it's amazing.

However, some ideas presented seem to me like more of a hit or miss and a few come from questionable sources, like financial independence communities or religious groups. On top of that, I think social media giants aren't put through rigorous research and blamed enough. They know about what happens with users and choose not to act up on it. If this point was expanded upon more I think the book would have a bigger impact.