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the_sunken_library's review against another edition
2.0
Utterly frustrating with an overly ambiguous ending.
It's made clear from the get go who the mastermind of the mass murders is and each page pushed me further into frustration.
The story is pieced together from interviews, excerpts and flashbacks which I throughly enjoyed. But so many of the characters seemed uninterested in the mystery they were entangled in. They all seemed to have come the same agreement - that the enigmatic, beautiful, goddess like survivor of a mass poisoning was involved but either were uninterested in proving it or accepted that such a feat was impossible. Makes you wonder why a book was written about it and then another journalist subsequently investigated it. Nobody seemed to want to punish Hisako, just get her to admit her guilt, to be an "observer" that saw the real her - not the author, not the journalist and not the detectives.
Utter madness.
I get that some mysteries can never be truly solved and the reality is, often people get away with things and the truth is never revealed to a satisfactory level. However, that's not what I want in a book that's billed as a murder mystery.
So many aspects of this story were never explained and made no sense. Too many. I rushed at the end thinking something, anything!, would finally be revealed but no. It ends on yet another mystery. I don't mind an ambiguous ending. But so many loose ends - it feels lazy to me. Perhaps it's deliberate. Giving a stage to small facts to make them feel significant when really they aren't. We always expect the small details to reveal the bigger picture and here they don't. They hint, they suggest but never explain fully.
There is a moment near the end, where its suggested Hisako is innocent - or more innocent that initially suggested - and that its just the human need/desire for a cunning, wicked protagonist with well made, easy to follow plans to have done something so heinous. In order for the public, the audience, to accept what has happened.
Perhaps that's what this book is really about. A human desire to complicate and explain things when actually, the truth is usually murky and inexplicable and hardly ever revealed to its fullest extent. Perhaps. Still, if it is, it's still not for me.
It's made clear from the get go who the mastermind of the mass murders is and each page pushed me further into frustration.
The story is pieced together from interviews, excerpts and flashbacks which I throughly enjoyed. But so many of the characters seemed uninterested in the mystery they were entangled in. They all seemed to have come the same agreement - that the enigmatic, beautiful, goddess like survivor of a mass poisoning was involved but either were uninterested in proving it or accepted that such a feat was impossible. Makes you wonder why a book was written about it and then another journalist subsequently investigated it. Nobody seemed to want to punish Hisako, just get her to admit her guilt, to be an "observer" that saw the real her - not the author, not the journalist and not the detectives.
Utter madness.
I get that some mysteries can never be truly solved and the reality is, often people get away with things and the truth is never revealed to a satisfactory level. However, that's not what I want in a book that's billed as a murder mystery.
So many aspects of this story were never explained and made no sense. Too many. I rushed at the end thinking something, anything!, would finally be revealed but no. It ends on yet another mystery. I don't mind an ambiguous ending. But so many loose ends - it feels lazy to me. Perhaps it's deliberate. Giving a stage to small facts to make them feel significant when really they aren't. We always expect the small details to reveal the bigger picture and here they don't. They hint, they suggest but never explain fully.
There is a moment near the end, where its suggested Hisako is innocent - or more innocent that initially suggested - and that its just the human need/desire for a cunning, wicked protagonist with well made, easy to follow plans to have done something so heinous. In order for the public, the audience, to accept what has happened.
Perhaps that's what this book is really about. A human desire to complicate and explain things when actually, the truth is usually murky and inexplicable and hardly ever revealed to its fullest extent. Perhaps. Still, if it is, it's still not for me.
thetruthatallhazards's review against another edition
Interesting concept but a little slow-paced for me. Might try it again another time.
nnendi's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
remigves's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
juliana2's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
ryder_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sare1125's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
suvata's review
4.0
• Translated from Japanese
DESCRIPTION
Selected by NYT as one of MOST NOTABLE BOOKS of 2020.
On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician's bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
But the youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. The police are convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako’ and witness to the discovery of the murders. The truth is revealed through a skilful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.
DESCRIPTION
Selected by NYT as one of MOST NOTABLE BOOKS of 2020.
On a stormy summer day the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician's bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
But the youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. The police are convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako’ and witness to the discovery of the murders. The truth is revealed through a skilful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.
natbee's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Interesting format, had me curious to know exactly what had truly happened that day.