Riku Onda

From the author of The Aosawa Murders, one of the NYT Notable Books of 2020. The WSJ commented: "Part psychological thriller, part murder mystery--it is audacious in conception and brilliant in execution." The Globe and Mail said the book was "emerging as one of the most praised novels of the year." This gripping psychological thriller takes place in a desolate apartment in a Japanese city. The protagonists, Aki and Hiro, fell in love at university before becoming convinced that they were brother and sister, separated when young after Aki was adopted. After living together platonically for some years they went on a trek in the mountains, where their guide--their estranged natural father--died inexplicably. Each believes the other to be the murderer and are determined to extract a confession. The suspicion has destroyed their relationship and so they have decided to go their separate ways. But first, they feel compelled to discuss what happened that day. In the ensuing psychological battle of wills during their last night together, they retrace events and come to a stunning conclusion. The thriller--buried in a literary whodunit--explores the mysteries of romantic love, memory and attaining self-knowledge. Like the best Japanese crime writing it is an unflinching foray into the darker recesses of the soul, quietly suspenseful and elegantly constructed.

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight

The interesting thing about the two perspectives so far is that one sees food as an outlet to positively view things while the other has had a lot of negative associations with food.

“Potatoes, onions, cabbages, apples, salad dressing, canned tuna. This kind of food has weight, like a living thing.”

“On nights when it was too hot for sleeping, he and I would go to the playground. We’d sit on the swings in the dark and drink beer. It felt so intimate. We said things there that we could never have spoken of inside.”

I’m curious as to why this message of wanting to have control over one’s death feels less impactful to me and I feel like it’s because I hope she realizes 

“Sometimes I want everything to disappear so I can erase my own existence. By dying, for example, or by saying goodbye. Those are possible endings I could choose. The world will go on regardless.”

first i thought this would be a psychological thriller, a fun lil murder mystery 

and then it turned into a weird incestual angst story about 2 ppl who fall in love and then find out they’re twins separated at birth 

and then they’re not twins, just cousins, so apparently it’s okay and totally legal 

and then they’re like woah we should commit double suicide 

and then apparently they only love each other platonically they were just being silly

are there deeper meanings? i think maybe im not smart enough for this book or something

jocelyn

first i thought this would be a psychological thriller, a fun lil murder mystery 

and then it turned into a weird incestual angst story about 2 ppl who fall in love and then find out they’re twins separated at birth 

and then they’re not twins, just cousins, so apparently it’s okay and totally legal 

and then they’re like woah we should commit double suicide 

and then they’re like ha just kidding 

and then apparently they only love each other platonically they were just being silly

the end 

are there deeper meanings? i think maybe im not smart enough for this book or something

nice writing though i guess

Geoffrey Froggatt

** spoiler alert **
           I’ve been trying to make an effort to read more foreign literature, more specifically Asian horror/thriller literature, ever since I read Penance and Confessions and loved them both. Set in Tokyo over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro have decided to be together one last time in their shared flat before parting. Their relationship has broken down after a mountain trek during which their guide died inexplicably. Now each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and what really happened on the mountain? In the battle of wills between them, the chain of events leading up to this night is gradually revealed in a gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end. I loved this premise and how short and to the point this novel was. I was engaged in the story from the first chapter and I loved the initial hook. I loved seeing the perspective change and both narrative voices from both Aki and Hiro. I loved how this story unravels a mystery while dissecting the end of a romantic relationship between these two characters. I loved the mind games that were played between these two protagonists, and I loved how both suspected each other of murder and chose to try and elicit a confession. The reveals came fast and were written well, and always felt effective. The pacing was excellent and there wasn’t a single moment where I felt like the story was meandering. I loved how this story takes place over the course of a single night and yet so much happens and the story escalated greatly. I love how the mystery unravels naturally through flashbacks and dialogue. This would make an amazing movie, and I’d love to see a faithful adaptation of this story. This story didn’t go in the direction that I expected it to, but I prefer the direction this book chose to go in. I like how the ending subverts the mystery elements and chooses to focus on the deep history and relationship between the central protagonists. I liked the dark and tragic love story. The translation didn’t take away from the story at all, and I loved the prose and how it elevated the material. The last chapter had such beautiful writing and I like how reflective it was. Some readers may think this book romanticizes suicide or paints it in a positive light, but this book addresses that and I believe the passages about suicide were about taking your fate into your own hands and writing the ending to your own story before somebody else does it for you. I found it fitting for the ending of these characters and I understood what the author was trying to say with this ending.

“I think I get it,” I say. 
“Get what?” she asks. 
“Everybody smiles for photos, don’t they? In school or group photos, people automatically smile when they look at the camera. Albums are full of people smiling. But if that’s the only kind of photo you see of the past, your memory of 
it gets distorted. You fall under the illusion that everything was always happy and lightness when it fact it wasn’t. There’s always some kind of conflict going on behind the scenes – people being bullied, love-hate relationships playing out and so on.” 
We both smile. 
We are looking at the camera. Looking at ourselves, looking at this photo in the future. Looking so we can tell ourselves that the past was not so bad. We are always the accomplices of our future selves when we look into a camera with a smile on our face. All the despair, animosity, fear and resignation hidden behind those smiles is abandoned. We forget. Through the camera we smile at ourselves in the future. Applying the filter of time so that everything might become part of a sweet past. 
Transformed into a happy memory.

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight

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