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clowreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
sammiethehammie's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
cilie's review
3.0
Weird, well-written, and confusing magical realism.
I admit - I did not understand what this book was really about.
On the surface it is about the entrepreneur A. A. Abram's quest to identify the polyglot writer Tomoyuki Tomoyuki, but is it really? Time and gender is fluent with characters changing sex and events happening out of order. The narrator is first person, but is it the same narrator all the way through? There is a lot of pondering about literature, language, and how the full understanding of a piece of literature can be dependent of the time and place of reading set piece of literature.
Though I didn't understand the narrative, I really liked the writing and was quite captivated with the mystery of Tomoyuki Tomoyuki, and the meaning of it all. Never really got an answer, though.
I admit - I did not understand what this book was really about.
On the surface it is about the entrepreneur A. A. Abram's quest to identify the polyglot writer Tomoyuki Tomoyuki, but is it really? Time and gender is fluent with characters changing sex and events happening out of order. The narrator is first person, but is it the same narrator all the way through? There is a lot of pondering about literature, language, and how the full understanding of a piece of literature can be dependent of the time and place of reading set piece of literature.
Though I didn't understand the narrative, I really liked the writing and was quite captivated with the mystery of Tomoyuki Tomoyuki, and the meaning of it all. Never really got an answer, though.
affrosponge88's review
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
thebookishapoth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Ok... *checks notes*
Writing this review, I feel like the protagonist (OR protagonists ?) found in this novel with my words, thoughts, & feelings constantly morphing into something other & escaping me completely.
Harlequin Butterfly by Toh EnJoe is a book hard to describe but very worth a read. Interwoven with principles studied by its mathematician author, this is a work of fiction that I have learned from, not only because of the way it was written but also because of the dense amount of information EnJoe was able to include in so few pages.
Layered with surrealism & subtle humor, this piece of metafiction touches on many topics including translation & its effects on authorship, the intricacies of language, & the many sources we use for inspiration & creativity.
I enjoyed reading this novella. It is able to be reread again almost immediately, starting from any chapter & yielding new revelations with each read.
But as Toh EnJoe states in this text... "A book report by a third party has no value..." so maybe read it for yourself & see what you can take from it or make of it.
"It's strange. There are some things that no amount of data can prove, but only take a split second to confirm in person."
"As for the book itself, why should it mind who's doing the reading? So long as it gets read - that's all it takes for a book to do its job."
"Dostoevsky for people on the move. Pushkin for entrepreneurs..."
"It's one thing to speak multiple languages and to be able to use them to get your ideas across in the moment, but it's another thing entirely to be able to express yourself in written form, pinning your ideas down in time and place."
"I'm here to learn how it works, to bring it into myself."
"The next sentence is lying. The previous sentence is telling the truth."
and so on, and so forth...
Writing this review, I feel like the protagonist (OR protagonists ?) found in this novel with my words, thoughts, & feelings constantly morphing into something other & escaping me completely.
Harlequin Butterfly by Toh EnJoe is a book hard to describe but very worth a read. Interwoven with principles studied by its mathematician author, this is a work of fiction that I have learned from, not only because of the way it was written but also because of the dense amount of information EnJoe was able to include in so few pages.
Layered with surrealism & subtle humor, this piece of metafiction touches on many topics including translation & its effects on authorship, the intricacies of language, & the many sources we use for inspiration & creativity.
I enjoyed reading this novella. It is able to be reread again almost immediately, starting from any chapter & yielding new revelations with each read.
But as Toh EnJoe states in this text... "A book report by a third party has no value..." so maybe read it for yourself & see what you can take from it or make of it.
"It's strange. There are some things that no amount of data can prove, but only take a split second to confirm in person."
"As for the book itself, why should it mind who's doing the reading? So long as it gets read - that's all it takes for a book to do its job."
"Dostoevsky for people on the move. Pushkin for entrepreneurs..."
"It's one thing to speak multiple languages and to be able to use them to get your ideas across in the moment, but it's another thing entirely to be able to express yourself in written form, pinning your ideas down in time and place."
"I'm here to learn how it works, to bring it into myself."
"The next sentence is lying. The previous sentence is telling the truth."
and so on, and so forth...