ivanasetiawan

** spoiler alert ** This book was nominated for my book club and I eagerly anticipated reading it. I have a huge interest in Japanese culture and history, as well as a background in art history and renaissance prints. However, despite all my interests in this time period and people, the book was an utter disappointment and a slow and tedious read. David Mitchell did his research and of that I’m not complaining. However, his writing style suffers from dryness and his plot suffers from inaction. Every single protagonist, of whose perspective we see, is powerless; terrible things happen around them and they can do nothing, so much of the narration is a helpless sort of pondering about what they should try to do. This in and of itself isn’t terrible, but when characters finally do gain a little bit of agency or decide to take action, the result is very anti-climatic. For example, when Orito decides to escape from the Shrine at Mount Shiranui and successfully does, she turns around and goes back!! Also, when Ogawa goes to rescue Orito, he is betrayed and turned over to the enemy; there’s no struggle, just drugged and killed. This book is not entertaining or fun in the least. If you’re curious about this topic or time period I would recommend reading a straight history book with first person narratives over this; it would be more entertaining.

2022-11-14 17:59