The concept of this book is really good, linguistics and different people from different backgrounds and cultures are what made me invested in this.

Unfortunately, the writing wasn't my cup of tea and this could be due to the translation... I really enjoyed the first half. It got confusing and the difference between characters was non-existent for me. And the chapters were way too long for my taste.

Boring. Poorly translated.

An impenetrable and unmemorable narrative.

Just a rubbish bit of international 'let's worship anything from the East tat'.

Crap. Poorly written. Poorly rendered. The only book I've felt physically motivated to tear up and burn in my stove in 50 years.

It just randomly has every character in their internal monologue disrespecting the one trans woman present, they all refer to her as "he" and "a man wearing a dress". I could understand it if it was one of two transphobic characters but they all do it the same way. Why is she even in the story of you're just going to be rude to her the whole time. Can't believe this book came out in 2022.

Subtle complex. Leaves a trail of interesting tidbits. Bits of the prose are so good, want to read several times and snipclip for later.

The book is weird and interesting but also kind of boring until the last chapter or so which I thought was pretty funny and really enjoyed. It’s funny because I’m my impression of the book I think huh, there wasn’t much action there, but also there was a lot of movement around and different people meeting up. It doesn’t seem like a book that will stick with me, but only time can tell.

I keep listening to it because it continually makes my jaw drop or eyebrows fly up. If this is widely acclaimed in Japan, it must be losing A LOT in translation! The dialog is bizarre, analogies are puzzling, situations arise that seem quite unlikely, and the plot, if there is one, is simply juvenile. I was playing with a new writing pen, so I started scribbling down one weird phrase after another: one that I picked up on was from someone talking to his mother on the phone, "I pressed my hand down on the top of my head to lower my voice," and a minute later, "I pressed my head down harder to make my voice lower." I will say that the narrator's voice is fairly soothing - which, to me, is sometimes more important than content. I will probably not want to read the book, but may listen to it again, just for the weirdness factor ... it at least amuses. I will also keep a pen and paper handy to jot down the occasional moment of the "I don't believe I just heard that" variety.

This book was strange in a number of senses and the graphic sexuality in parts was wholly unwarranted. There was also very little plot or resolution. What little plot existed was driven by unreasonable coincidences.

I just didn't get it. Maybe I'm missing some subtleties, some complexities? It really fell flat for me. I'm not one who needs a lot of action if there's beautiful prose but this didn't have either.