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zlaza's review
3.0
3.5
'Mysterious Setting', by Kazushige Abe, is a bizarre, shocking and entertaining novel.
It's about completely tone-deaf Shiori who dreams of becoming a musician and a lyricist.
She's a bit of an outcast, and she struggles fitting in with her family and peers. She has a disturbing relationship with her sister, Nozomi, who is very abusive and cruel to Shiori.
At the age of 18 she moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting but falls in with a bad crowd.
Shiori is a frustrating character to read about. She has no self awareness, she's extremely gullible and easily taken advantage of.
The story is captivating, unsettling and suspensful.
The second-hand embarassment you'll feel while reading about Shiori's life will make you so uncomfortable.
It's easily one of the weirdest novels I've read this way, but in a good way.
I think 'Mysterious Setting' is a great introduction to Kazushige Abe's work.
Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
'Mysterious Setting', by Kazushige Abe, is a bizarre, shocking and entertaining novel.
It's about completely tone-deaf Shiori who dreams of becoming a musician and a lyricist.
She's a bit of an outcast, and she struggles fitting in with her family and peers. She has a disturbing relationship with her sister, Nozomi, who is very abusive and cruel to Shiori.
At the age of 18 she moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting but falls in with a bad crowd.
Shiori is a frustrating character to read about. She has no self awareness, she's extremely gullible and easily taken advantage of.
The story is captivating, unsettling and suspensful.
The second-hand embarassment you'll feel while reading about Shiori's life will make you so uncomfortable.
It's easily one of the weirdest novels I've read this way, but in a good way.
I think 'Mysterious Setting' is a great introduction to Kazushige Abe's work.
Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
bookswithlydscl's review
Didn't need a sister essentially sexually assaulting her sister to make sure she's still a virgin. Noped out at that point.
minimicropup's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I LOVE Weird fiction and second-hand embarrassment but couldn’t get past how this story is told. It made the most intriguing moments a snore fest.
Energy: Amusing. Ludicrous. Impressionable.
Scene: 🇯🇵 Begins in a run-down park in Tokyo, Japan
Perspective: We follow our main character through middle school, high school, and a college music program. Our MC is tone-deaf, can’t read the room, and their family and peers avoid them. They aspire to be a singer and seek connection and friendship.
🐺 Growls: Talking at us instead of letting us infer, experience, and observe. How boring this is.
🐕 Howls: How long this felt. Dragging what could have been a curious short story into something too long.
🤔 Random Thoughts:
I wanted to interrupt the narrator with Why Are You Telling Us This and Where Is This Going so many times. There were moments I loved, like dialogue or interactions that highlighted unlikeable cringe and awkwardness in such a visceral way, but they were sporadic and overshadowed by the narrator explaining why it’s cringe to us.
I couldn’t help but read most of this in a flat, monotone way. I think because shocking, bizarre, or horrific scenes were explained after the fact, and it ruined the vibe. Or right in the middle of an interesting/random/shocking scene, we’d be yanked out into a tangent of how Shiori really wants [insert thing here].
The ending and twist were indeed Weird, but still couldn’t keep my attention. If it was supposed to be symbolic, it was lost on me.
----
🎬 Tale-Telling: Wordy, dense stream of consciousness. Overly drawn-out philosophical dialogue between characters. Spoon-feeding bizarro tropes.
🤓 Reader Role: Sitting next to a stranger on a park bench as they tell us Shiori’s life story (literally).
🗺️ World-Building: Foreboding but barren. It could take place in just about any large city.
🔥 Fuel: Driven by character evolution and moral quandaries. It read like a third-person draft of Shiori’s memoir.
📖 Cred: Speculative ‘what if’
🚙 Journey: Excited for an event. Car dies in the middle of nowhere. Miss out on the event. Hear about it second-hand for months.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
-Rusty playground equipment. Child wailing. Parakeets chirping. Mall music. Electric guitars tuning up. Suitcase latches.
-Bizarro story-within-a-story soft sci-fi
-Socially isolated coming-of-age and new adult plots
Content Heads-Up: Physical and sexual assault, incestuous (sibling). Torture. Suicidal ideation. Rape (mention, rumours). Loneliness. Rejection (family, peers). Animal death (birds, disease). Nuclear weapons.
Rep: Japanese. Cisgender. Heterosexual.
📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Pushkin Press and NetGalley.
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Energy: Amusing. Ludicrous. Impressionable.
Scene: 🇯🇵 Begins in a run-down park in Tokyo, Japan
Perspective: We follow our main character through middle school, high school, and a college music program. Our MC is tone-deaf, can’t read the room, and their family and peers avoid them. They aspire to be a singer and seek connection and friendship.
🐺 Growls: Talking at us instead of letting us infer, experience, and observe. How boring this is.
🐕 Howls: How long this felt. Dragging what could have been a curious short story into something too long.
🤔 Random Thoughts:
I wanted to interrupt the narrator with Why Are You Telling Us This and Where Is This Going so many times. There were moments I loved, like dialogue or interactions that highlighted unlikeable cringe and awkwardness in such a visceral way, but they were sporadic and overshadowed by the narrator explaining why it’s cringe to us.
I couldn’t help but read most of this in a flat, monotone way. I think because shocking, bizarre, or horrific scenes were explained after the fact, and it ruined the vibe. Or right in the middle of an interesting/random/shocking scene, we’d be yanked out into a tangent of how Shiori really wants [insert thing here].
The ending and twist were indeed Weird, but still couldn’t keep my attention. If it was supposed to be symbolic, it was lost on me.
----
🎬 Tale-Telling: Wordy, dense stream of consciousness. Overly drawn-out philosophical dialogue between characters. Spoon-feeding bizarro tropes.
🤓 Reader Role: Sitting next to a stranger on a park bench as they tell us Shiori’s life story (literally).
🗺️ World-Building: Foreboding but barren. It could take place in just about any large city.
🔥 Fuel: Driven by character evolution and moral quandaries. It read like a third-person draft of Shiori’s memoir.
📖 Cred: Speculative ‘what if’
🚙 Journey: Excited for an event. Car dies in the middle of nowhere. Miss out on the event. Hear about it second-hand for months.
Mood Reading Match-Up:
-Rusty playground equipment. Child wailing. Parakeets chirping. Mall music. Electric guitars tuning up. Suitcase latches.
-Bizarro story-within-a-story soft sci-fi
-Socially isolated coming-of-age and new adult plots
Content Heads-Up: Physical and sexual assault, incestuous (sibling). Torture. Suicidal ideation. Rape (mention, rumours). Loneliness. Rejection (family, peers). Animal death (birds, disease). Nuclear weapons.
Rep: Japanese. Cisgender. Heterosexual.
📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Pushkin Press and NetGalley.
My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Incest, and Torture
Minor: Rape, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
katejohnson_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
4.5
lukaseichmann's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
3.0
alexutzu's review
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and everyone that contributed to the existence of this book for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
This was a bit disappointing, I was hyped for the novel but lost interest due to the chaotic pacing and the somewhat uninteresting narration and style. It just did not click, I tried to keep going but felt like this will put me in a slump so I had to DNF a bit before the first half.
😍 The good:
The book might have some depth and more catchy events, but unfortunately it got lost in the chaotic chain of small events.
😅 The not-so-good:
Nothing much seemed to happen for more than half of the book (I checked it through in order to get a clear perspective), which is too slow and confusing for me.
This was a bit disappointing, I was hyped for the novel but lost interest due to the chaotic pacing and the somewhat uninteresting narration and style. It just did not click, I tried to keep going but felt like this will put me in a slump so I had to DNF a bit before the first half.
😍 The good:
The book might have some depth and more catchy events, but unfortunately it got lost in the chaotic chain of small events.
😅 The not-so-good:
Nothing much seemed to happen for more than half of the book (I checked it through in order to get a clear perspective), which is too slow and confusing for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
recycledwords's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The main character of the story in this novel, Shiori, doesn't have an easy life. She is lonely and naïve and easily taken advantage of, which happens several times throughout the book. It's tough reading a character clearly struggling with social isolation get her hopes up when she thinks she has made new friends only to be beaten back again. Towards the end of the novel, there is a Schrodinger's Cat style action plot, and Shiori HAS to take action and make a choice on whether to believe or not to believe and here we finally see her start to take action.
The main bulk of this novel is a story being told by a narrator we meet at the beginning and re-join at the end of him telling Shiori's tale. I didn't feel this "story within a story" element added anything, it felt more like filler to add a few extra pages. Several Japanese novels I have read recently focus on the social isolation of young people and Mysterious Setting is another great portrayal of this.
I have given this book 3 stars because I enjoyed it but didn't feel like it was a stand out and there are other novels on similar themes which I would recommend instead of this.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eBook ARC.
The main bulk of this novel is a story being told by a narrator we meet at the beginning and re-join at the end of him telling Shiori's tale. I didn't feel this "story within a story" element added anything, it felt more like filler to add a few extra pages. Several Japanese novels I have read recently focus on the social isolation of young people and Mysterious Setting is another great portrayal of this.
I have given this book 3 stars because I enjoyed it but didn't feel like it was a stand out and there are other novels on similar themes which I would recommend instead of this.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eBook ARC.
readingwitheden's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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