Chiharu's Book Reviews

Utopia Kanae Minato Shueisha Bunko 2018 ★★★☆☆ I’ll introduce Utopia . This book was written by Kanae Minato and published by Shueisha Bunko in 2018. This is a mystery novel that was awarded the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize. There are three main characters who are Nanako, Mitsuki and Sumire. Nanako lives in a Buddhist store and Mitsuki teaches how to make preserved flowers to neighbors. Sumire is a ceramist. They lived in the same town called Hanasaki Cho where many artists lived. For example, a photographer, a fabric dyer, a violin craftsman and a ceramist like a Sumire lived there. Nanako and Mitsuki each have a child. The children are good friends, but Nanako’s daughter is in wheelchair due to a traffic accident when she was a kindergarten student. Then Sumire made a brand to support people who are in wheelchairs. That brand name is “Clara no Tsubasa” and it has straps with the motif of angel’s wings. Nanako, Mitsuki and Sumire are friends but gradually began to doub

Today, I’ll introduce a kind of heavy story. I read “そしてぼくは銃口を向けた”(And then I pointed the Gun). This book was written by Makiko Iizuka. She wrote about many gun shootings at high schools mainly in the 1990s. These are true stories that happened in America. She went to meet the criminals in prison to hear their stories. Why did I choose this one? The reason is that I had an assignment to find a nonfiction story in another class, and I was interested in this book. What do you think of gun shootings? I had thought the gun shooting criminal is just a dangerous person before I read this book. However, I found out that it was not necessarily so from the book. The criminal is also a child. They had many troubles in their school, such as bullying or backbiting from others. And then, they tried to tell others their pain and suffering with a gun. This is too sad, isn’t it? They were called strange people many times by others and they were aware of it. They suffered because they diff

Tabineko Report H iro Arikawa Kodansha Bunko 2017 ★★★★★ I'll introduce Tabineko Report written by Hiro Arikawa. This book was published by Kodansha Bunko in 2017. This is a story of two characters, Satoru and Nana and their road trip. Satoru is a very kind man and Nana is a mail cat with a girl's name. Nana is a stray cat and he is always asleep in Satoru’s car. One day, Satoru helped Nana when he was hurt in a car accident. After that, they lived together for five years. However, Satoru couldn't keep Nana anymore, so he and Nana travel to find Nana's new owner among Satoru’s friends. They went to some places and saw lots of  new things together. They found a few his friends who want to have Nana, but Nana doesn't want to go to their house. While traveling together, they learn how important they are to each other. Anytime, Satoru loves Nana and Nana loves Satoru. Although I can't tell the end of the story, Nana is a very

Hankyu Densha Hiro Arihawa Gentosha Bunko 2010 ★★★★☆ I read Hankyu Densha written by Hiro Arikawa. This was published by Gentosha Bunko in 2010. This book is very interesting because each story corresponds to a station on the Imazu Line of Hankyu Densha. This author’s stories are easy to read for me, so I like her stories. There are some characters in this book. For example, Shoko, Tokie, Misa, Etsuko and so on. One of the interesting characters is Shoko. When I read this part, I was sad about what happened to her, but it was  interesting. One day, someone saved another passenger when they got on the same train. For example, one woman who had a terrible thing happen in her life was saved by another woman who said something to her. In another case, a woman  can't say her opinions to some annoying women on the train, but they're her friends. It's complicated!! Anyway, she was saved by talking with another person on the train and so on. In this way, people each have

I read the book “Futatsu no Shirushi” written by Natsu Miyashita. This book was published by Gentosha Bunko in 2017. Honestly, I’m not sure what genre it is, but I think it’s a love story. There are two main characters who are Haru and Haruna in this book. It consists of two parallel stories at the same time which are Haru’s story and Haruna’s story. They didn’t know each other, but imperceptibly they had already met before. Haru and Haruna are a  little strange because they always have their own opinions and they always do what they want to do. I think they are strong.   Actually, I couldn’t understand the book well,  but it was interesting when each story overlapped.