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Last Winter We Parted
Instantly reminiscent of the work of Osamu Dazai and Patricia Highsmith, Fuminori Nakamura’s latest novel is a dark and twisting house of mirrors that philosophically explores the violence of aesthetics and the horrors of identity.
A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a convict. The writer has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from the bizarre and grisly details of the crime to the nature of the man behind it. The suspect, a world-renowned photographer named Kiharazaka, has a deeply unsettling portfolio—lurking beneath the surface of each photograph is an acutely obsessive fascination with his subject.
He stands accused of murdering two women—both burned alive—and will likely face the death penalty. But something isn’t quite right. As the young writer probes further, his doubts about this man as a killer intensify, and he struggles to maintain his sense of reason and justice. Is Kiharazaka truly guilty, or will he die to protect someone else?
Evoking Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “Hell Screen,” Last Winter, We Parted is a twisted tale that asks a deceptively sinister Is it possible to truly capture the essence of another human being?
A young writer arrives at a prison to interview a convict. The writer has been commissioned to write a full account of the case, from the bizarre and grisly details of the crime to the nature of the man behind it. The suspect, a world-renowned photographer named Kiharazaka, has a deeply unsettling portfolio—lurking beneath the surface of each photograph is an acutely obsessive fascination with his subject.
He stands accused of murdering two women—both burned alive—and will likely face the death penalty. But something isn’t quite right. As the young writer probes further, his doubts about this man as a killer intensify, and he struggles to maintain his sense of reason and justice. Is Kiharazaka truly guilty, or will he die to protect someone else?
Evoking Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “Hell Screen,” Last Winter, We Parted is a twisted tale that asks a deceptively sinister Is it possible to truly capture the essence of another human being?
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 26, 2013
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2061 people want to read
About the author
Fuminori Nakamura
28 books678 followersHis debut novel Jū (The Gun) won the Shinchō New Author Prize in 2002. Also received the Noma Prize for New Writers in 2004 for Shakō [The Shade]. Winner of the Akutagawa Prize in 2005 for Tsuchi no naka no kodomo (Child in the Ground). Suri (Pickpocket) won the Ōe Kenzaburō Prize in 2010. His other works include Sekai no Hate (The Far End of the World), Ōkoku (Kingdom), and Meikyū (Labyrinth).
See also 中村 文則.
See also 中村 文則.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 285 reviews
March 24, 2019
Well, that was extremely unsettling to say the least. If ever a book deserved some sort of warning before you began, it may be this one. So allow me to just give you a brief heads up: this book contains violence, including description of kidnapping, restraints and being burned to death, the most uncomfortable scenes of a sexual nature I’ve ever read, and not a single likable character in sight. Nakamura pretty much starts every scene reminding you that these are unpleasant people and whenever you may find any sympathy for them, he will remind you of their nature. In fact, the only character presented in a positive light is already dead at the start.
So, with all that said, it also cements Nakamura up there with Higashino as one of my favorite Japanese authors. This book will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It goes out of its way to be nihilistic (as all of Nakamura’s books that I’ve read have also done) and here it pulls it off with grace, poetry and more than a touch of pure horror. It is unflinching in presentation and not afraid to make the reader uncomfortable in the slightest. It reminds me of something the director Sion Sono would make (particularly in his Guilty of Romance and Love Exposure days, not so much his recent sillier work).
The plot follows a man attempting to write a book on Yudai Kiharazaka. Kiharazaka was a photographer, who now on death row, was convicted for the murder of two women who were found burnt to death in his studio. Our unnamed narrator interviews Kiharazaka, his sister and numerous friends and acquaintances (including a rather interesting doll maker, who makes replica of people who have passed away). He starts to realize he’s not only getting in way over his head, but that there’s far more going on than any one individual knows.
"Instead of me sharing what’s inside my mind with you, I want you to share what’s inside yours.
You might call it an exchange of insanity."
The book is constructed rather like a puzzle. It alternates between regular chapters with our narrator, letters written by Kiharazaka in prison (and they are not always clear who the letter is intended for, adding to the confusion), the twitter account and diary entries of one of the victims and at least one other narrator making a report on some backstory. While the reader comes to understand what exactly happened, it becomes clear that pretty much all the characters only know bits and pieces, and it is only through all the narratives that we can understand as a whole.
“… And what about your heart?”
“My heart?”
Suzuki looks at me.
“… I have no such thing.”
I mentioned before that there are no likeable characters here. I stand by that, but that does not mean that they are not an interesting bunch. I genuinely hated some of these characters (well, as much as I’m going to hate any fictional character) but I was fascinated by their actions. Everyone in the book does something morally questionable to varying extents, and while we get explanations for their actions, it never feels like Nakamura is trying to justify them, rather showing you why they would act in such a way without ever making the reader really sympathize with them. I found this a rather pleasant surprise as this honestly seems like a more challenging way to write this story. It would be easy to play off the reader’s sympathy, but there is none of that here. This is a cold book and it plays a game of its own. You either go by its rules or will no doubt put it aside having encountered a very unpleasant experience.
In closing: this is the third of Nakamura’s books I’ve read. I really loved The Thief (despite it sending me into a state of nihilistic despair), I found The Gun an interesting, though flawed first novel. This one… I actually like more than The Thief. In fact, I find this to be one of the most interesting books I’ve read in years (despite there being a couple of really hard to read scenes). I really debated on 4 or 5 stars for this one and it is one of those occasions that I really wish Goodreads had a half star option as there are some flaws particularly in regards to some dialogue. With all that said, I’m going with a full 5/5 stars, because I really can’t think of a reading experience I’ve had quite like this one. My highest possible recommendation for those who can handle the material.
So, with all that said, it also cements Nakamura up there with Higashino as one of my favorite Japanese authors. This book will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It goes out of its way to be nihilistic (as all of Nakamura’s books that I’ve read have also done) and here it pulls it off with grace, poetry and more than a touch of pure horror. It is unflinching in presentation and not afraid to make the reader uncomfortable in the slightest. It reminds me of something the director Sion Sono would make (particularly in his Guilty of Romance and Love Exposure days, not so much his recent sillier work).
The plot follows a man attempting to write a book on Yudai Kiharazaka. Kiharazaka was a photographer, who now on death row, was convicted for the murder of two women who were found burnt to death in his studio. Our unnamed narrator interviews Kiharazaka, his sister and numerous friends and acquaintances (including a rather interesting doll maker, who makes replica of people who have passed away). He starts to realize he’s not only getting in way over his head, but that there’s far more going on than any one individual knows.
"Instead of me sharing what’s inside my mind with you, I want you to share what’s inside yours.
You might call it an exchange of insanity."
The book is constructed rather like a puzzle. It alternates between regular chapters with our narrator, letters written by Kiharazaka in prison (and they are not always clear who the letter is intended for, adding to the confusion), the twitter account and diary entries of one of the victims and at least one other narrator making a report on some backstory. While the reader comes to understand what exactly happened, it becomes clear that pretty much all the characters only know bits and pieces, and it is only through all the narratives that we can understand as a whole.
“… And what about your heart?”
“My heart?”
Suzuki looks at me.
“… I have no such thing.”
I mentioned before that there are no likeable characters here. I stand by that, but that does not mean that they are not an interesting bunch. I genuinely hated some of these characters (well, as much as I’m going to hate any fictional character) but I was fascinated by their actions. Everyone in the book does something morally questionable to varying extents, and while we get explanations for their actions, it never feels like Nakamura is trying to justify them, rather showing you why they would act in such a way without ever making the reader really sympathize with them. I found this a rather pleasant surprise as this honestly seems like a more challenging way to write this story. It would be easy to play off the reader’s sympathy, but there is none of that here. This is a cold book and it plays a game of its own. You either go by its rules or will no doubt put it aside having encountered a very unpleasant experience.
In closing: this is the third of Nakamura’s books I’ve read. I really loved The Thief (despite it sending me into a state of nihilistic despair), I found The Gun an interesting, though flawed first novel. This one… I actually like more than The Thief. In fact, I find this to be one of the most interesting books I’ve read in years (despite there being a couple of really hard to read scenes). I really debated on 4 or 5 stars for this one and it is one of those occasions that I really wish Goodreads had a half star option as there are some flaws particularly in regards to some dialogue. With all that said, I’m going with a full 5/5 stars, because I really can’t think of a reading experience I’ve had quite like this one. My highest possible recommendation for those who can handle the material.
August 16, 2023
Since I last read a thriller, it's been a while, and I almost forgot how unique and brutal Japanese thrillers can be. This book is a prime illustration. It was masterfully written and executed, leaving little room for the readers to make assumptions about what might have truly transpired. Thankfully, I didn't stop reading it in the middle because of the slow start, but I did dock it one rating because the revenge could have been more substantial. I'm not sure precisely what I hoped from this book, but I felt there was something missing.
November 15, 2014
Here’s a surprise book.
I don’t know why I picked this up to read. It was in a pile of books that I’ve gotten free copies of recently and there are a bunch of books in those piles that I’ve been looking forward to reading, but for some reason I’ll just grab something I don’t know much about instead. I think it’s partially a desire to want to read something that I can get rid of once I’m done without feeling like this is something I should hold on to. I’m only speculating about what goes into my thought process of picking books.
This was very good. It made me quite happy that I chose this short looking ‘crime’ novel to read after the two week enjoyable but time consuming trek through Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings.
This is a Japanese crime/mystery/psychological suspense novel by a young writer who has his fingers on the pulse of existentialist writers like Dostoyevsky, Camus, Sartre and Kafka; and on the sort of pacing one finds in a Hitchcock film but without ever showing his hand that he’s writing a ‘literary’ novel (except that some novels and writers are mentioned by characters).
The story revolves around a photographer who is waiting to be executed for the burning two women alive. He’s on death row and a writer comes to visit him in order to write a book about his crimes. The photographer gives little about himself and only offers to give a glimpse into his psyche if the writer will share his own demons with him.
As the novel unfolds the photographer turns out to be what I always pictured Andy Warhol to be like, and which I’ve heard Lou Reed wrote about Warhol in the Velvet Underground song “I’ll be Your Mirror”: (which would be a mirror of other people’s desires, the spectator creating art out of the pathos of those around him).
The book is much more psychological than a mystery/crime novel. And it’s not really accurate to use the word suspense. It’s a study of the photographer, the writer, the crime and other participants in what has unfolded.
For mystery/crime fans the book might be a bit of a let-down. The big reveals happen off page, and the final scenes have a kind of artificial feel to them that harkens back to the way that some golden age Hollywood films would handle the big reveal. It comes a little suddenly, and might feel forced, but I think that it fits in the novel which is about the psyche of those involved more than the crimes that have been committed.
Before I sat down to write I thought that maybe I would write something about how crime / detective fiction had been a favorite of some well-respected smart authors, and that it’s regarded as lowly, or an ironic foray into low-brow by some people now, but that’s beyond what I have the energy to write right now. I’ll just say that I thought this was full of the good stuff, and it’s proven once again that some of the author’s writing in the ‘ghetto’ of the genres write some amazing fiction and could probably go toe-to-toe with their more respected counterparts.
I’d recommend this, and if I were in a more excitable mode lately I might have decided to give this five stars, but since I didn’t give Marlon James’s book five stars, it’s tough to give it to this either, even if both books I’d whole heartedly recommend.
April 30, 2017
I admit that I was quite excited at the prospect of reading this book - I first noticed the cover, with the pure image of a powerful ball of fire against a stark, black background; then it's poetic title, and the premise: a young writer put against a murderer convicted of committing a heinous and terrible crime. I was looking forward to reading a morality play combined with a mystery, witnessing a clash of personalities - but walked away disappointed, in the end barely caring about the novel. What went wrong?
Reviewers have compared the plot of this novel to In Cold Blood - which is obvious, since it's even directly referenced by one of the characters. However, ultimately the novel bears little similarity to In Cold Blood: lacking the qualities of both the author and the crime he chose to cover.
In Last Winter We Parted, the writer confronts a photographer turned murderer; he is convincing of burning two women to death, and taking photographs of them when they were on fire. As he tries to understand the reason for this crime and gain insight into the murderer's character, the writer begins to doubt both himself and what he is told - his investigation brings him to the photographer's sister, who is just as enigmatic as her brother and seems to be just as dangerous.
The story is relayed through a number of ways: diaries, transcripts of recordings, letters, etc. Despite the amount of possibilities these means provide for an author, they just didn't work for me - I didn't feel more interested in discovering the story because of them, and they distanced my interest rather than draw it in. I couldn't be bothered to care about any of the characters, who I thought were ultimately simply uninteresting and rather hastily drawn (the moment one character reveals an obsession with butterflies, I couldn't help but be reminded of The Silence of the Lambs which I thought was a vastly superior novel). In the end, I simply didn't care who killed who and what for - which isn't exactly the best recommendation for a mystery novel, and the reason why I'm not recommending this one.
Apparently the author is quite popular in his native Japan and elsewhere because of his previous book, The Thief, which was well received, and might be a better starting point than this novel. It does sound interesting, and i'm willing to read it - hopefully my gut feeling will turn out to be right this time!
Reviewers have compared the plot of this novel to In Cold Blood - which is obvious, since it's even directly referenced by one of the characters. However, ultimately the novel bears little similarity to In Cold Blood: lacking the qualities of both the author and the crime he chose to cover.
In Last Winter We Parted, the writer confronts a photographer turned murderer; he is convincing of burning two women to death, and taking photographs of them when they were on fire. As he tries to understand the reason for this crime and gain insight into the murderer's character, the writer begins to doubt both himself and what he is told - his investigation brings him to the photographer's sister, who is just as enigmatic as her brother and seems to be just as dangerous.
The story is relayed through a number of ways: diaries, transcripts of recordings, letters, etc. Despite the amount of possibilities these means provide for an author, they just didn't work for me - I didn't feel more interested in discovering the story because of them, and they distanced my interest rather than draw it in. I couldn't be bothered to care about any of the characters, who I thought were ultimately simply uninteresting and rather hastily drawn (the moment one character reveals an obsession with butterflies, I couldn't help but be reminded of The Silence of the Lambs which I thought was a vastly superior novel). In the end, I simply didn't care who killed who and what for - which isn't exactly the best recommendation for a mystery novel, and the reason why I'm not recommending this one.
Apparently the author is quite popular in his native Japan and elsewhere because of his previous book, The Thief, which was well received, and might be a better starting point than this novel. It does sound interesting, and i'm willing to read it - hopefully my gut feeling will turn out to be right this time!
October 25, 2014
Dark and twisted with some very creepy characters bent on revenge. When a young writer goes to the prison to meet a famous photographer who has been convicted of the murder and burning of two girls and sentenced to death, his life changes immeasurably. When he tries to back out of the project he finds he is unable to extract himself from this story.
Shifting narratives at times made this a challenge to read, sometimes it was hard to tell who was speaking. Yet the characters were compelling and the story one in which I wanted the answers. A strange doll maker who makes life sized dolls for customers who want to replace a real person for a variety of reasons, plays an important part and this practice needless to say I found very strange. It is a novel full of twists and turns, revelations with every chapter. While I can't say that I liked or even sympathized with any of the characters I did find the story itself appealing to me in its very strangeness. The ending more than satisfied.
ARC from publisher.
Shifting narratives at times made this a challenge to read, sometimes it was hard to tell who was speaking. Yet the characters were compelling and the story one in which I wanted the answers. A strange doll maker who makes life sized dolls for customers who want to replace a real person for a variety of reasons, plays an important part and this practice needless to say I found very strange. It is a novel full of twists and turns, revelations with every chapter. While I can't say that I liked or even sympathized with any of the characters I did find the story itself appealing to me in its very strangeness. The ending more than satisfied.
ARC from publisher.
March 12, 2021
1 star. 216 pages. Skimmed the last 50 pages.
I was annoyed near the beginning…when there were two people having a conversation, Person A and Person B….and I didn’t know who was speaking after a while. Was that Person A saying that? But I thought he just said something right before that… It was the way the author had constructed the conversation. And that happened over and over again. And then the plot because so convoluted where one person was impersonating another person and multiply that convolution 100 times (i.e., a plot twist after a plot twist after a plot twist ad nauseum) and…at some point the clue train was leaving the station and I remained at the station. And I didn’t care. 🙁
This novel, if a person stuck it out, and if the person read it very slowly, and has a wonderful short-term memory, may view the novel as brilliant. I just couldn’t follow it. I guess I read too fast. And that may be my undoing. But there are a gazillion books out there and a bazillion I would probably enjoy and so far, I have greatly enjoyed the act of reading and so I am not ready to give up my reading style. 🤨 😐
Reviews:
• https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketc...
• https://crimefictionlover.com/2014/10... Ha! 🧐 Reviewer liked it but said this: One issue, however, is the plot, which seems unnecessarily complex and shifting. What is, in essence, a simple story of obsession becomes occasionally overwhelmed by shifts in style, voice and perspective.
• http://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2... Double Ha!!! 🧐 🧐 "Although the general plot is very clear, the style and the nature of narrating, at times, really stands in it sway. A combination of archive material, interviews and letters, mixed with straight laced narration means that the reader can get lost in the story, in the wrong way. Although some of these switches provide nice twists later on, they interrupt the reading experience of the moment and make it quite hard at times to piece together who we're reading about and why. If a thriller plot is hard to follow, it becomes almost impossible to follow and get interested in what exactly happened."
I was annoyed near the beginning…when there were two people having a conversation, Person A and Person B….and I didn’t know who was speaking after a while. Was that Person A saying that? But I thought he just said something right before that… It was the way the author had constructed the conversation. And that happened over and over again. And then the plot because so convoluted where one person was impersonating another person and multiply that convolution 100 times (i.e., a plot twist after a plot twist after a plot twist ad nauseum) and…at some point the clue train was leaving the station and I remained at the station. And I didn’t care. 🙁
This novel, if a person stuck it out, and if the person read it very slowly, and has a wonderful short-term memory, may view the novel as brilliant. I just couldn’t follow it. I guess I read too fast. And that may be my undoing. But there are a gazillion books out there and a bazillion I would probably enjoy and so far, I have greatly enjoyed the act of reading and so I am not ready to give up my reading style. 🤨 😐
Reviews:
• https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketc...
• https://crimefictionlover.com/2014/10... Ha! 🧐 Reviewer liked it but said this: One issue, however, is the plot, which seems unnecessarily complex and shifting. What is, in essence, a simple story of obsession becomes occasionally overwhelmed by shifts in style, voice and perspective.
• http://universeinwords.blogspot.com/2... Double Ha!!! 🧐 🧐 "Although the general plot is very clear, the style and the nature of narrating, at times, really stands in it sway. A combination of archive material, interviews and letters, mixed with straight laced narration means that the reader can get lost in the story, in the wrong way. Although some of these switches provide nice twists later on, they interrupt the reading experience of the moment and make it quite hard at times to piece together who we're reading about and why. If a thriller plot is hard to follow, it becomes almost impossible to follow and get interested in what exactly happened."
August 1, 2018
หวังเยอะก็จงผิดหวัง เรารู้สึกธรรมดากับทั้งสองพี่น้องอันตราย เหมือนไม่ได้มีความพิเศษใดๆ เหนือความบ้าคลั่งใต้ใบหน้าสงบเงียบเกินกว่าตัวละครประเภทเดียวกันในเล่มอื่นๆ เท่าไร ส่วนการล่อหลอกคนอ่าน พอผ่านไปสักครึ่งแรกจะเริ่มสงสัยในสิ่งที่ผู้เขียนเปิดเปรย จนไม่เชื่อในสิ่งที่ตัวละครเล่าอีกต่อไป จุดนี้เราว่าดี ก่อให้เกิดการขบคิด สันนิษฐาน และต่อยอดไปเรื่อยๆ พอรู้สึกว่าหนังสือมันต้องหลอกเราแน่ๆ ก็จะระแวงไปหมด จนอะไรก็เป็นไปได้ทั้งนั้น
อีกเรื่อง ตอนเห็นดราฟแรกของปกไทย เนื้อเต้นมาก พอออกมาจริงแล้วกลับไม่เท่าที่คิด รู้สึกถึงความรุงรังของการวางตัวอักษร font และความเปราะบางของเนื้อกระดาษด้านใน
อย่างไรก็ตาม ก็ขอเป็นแฟนท่านฟุมิซามะต่อไป
อีกเรื่อง ตอนเห็นดราฟแรกของปกไทย เนื้อเต้นมาก พอออกมาจริงแล้วกลับไม่เท่าที่คิด รู้สึกถึงความรุงรังของการวางตัวอักษร font และความเปราะบางของเนื้อกระดาษด้านใน
อย่างไรก็ตาม ก็ขอเป็นแฟนท่านฟุมิซามะต่อไป
January 12, 2019
The novel is suspenseful, dark, twisted and relatively unpredictable in its solution. It is not suited for people who like to read cozy mysteries, cause they want to avoid cruelty. It is not suited for those who don’t want to read anything sexually explicit.
From the description of the book it is clear this story was not a fairytale:-) The characters are not nice at all. But all in all it was a really fascinating read as it searches for answers to questions about violence and murderers. I have read more by this author and also enjoyed his other work.
From the description of the book it is clear this story was not a fairytale:-) The characters are not nice at all. But all in all it was a really fascinating read as it searches for answers to questions about violence and murderers. I have read more by this author and also enjoyed his other work.
December 12, 2014
“It’s safe to say you killed them...Isn’t that right?” Our narrator is writing an In Cold Blood-style exposé about two murders committed by a photographer now on death row. In two separate incidents, he set a female model on fire and watched her burn, unwilling to help but also unable to take photos. Add in the prisoner’s manipulative sister, an obsession with butterflies (a stab at the Nabokovian?) and a doll-maker with creepily realistic creations and you get a twisty thriller that’s a bit like Memento or Gone Girl.
It’s a super-quick read and the documentary approach (letters, transcripts of video clips, etc.) is interesting, but I could barely tell some of the characters apart and I wanted much more of the present action. You never get a clear idea of who the narrator is or what his story has to do with the novel.
If you like mysteries that continually make you second-guess the characters, you might enjoy this one. “Amid the overwhelming monotony of the everyday, it’s the rare individual who enjoys lying, who indulges and revels in it, who relishes treating others with malice.” Not so rare here, though.
Barely memorable for me. I much preferred the superficially similar The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee.
It’s a super-quick read and the documentary approach (letters, transcripts of video clips, etc.) is interesting, but I could barely tell some of the characters apart and I wanted much more of the present action. You never get a clear idea of who the narrator is or what his story has to do with the novel.
If you like mysteries that continually make you second-guess the characters, you might enjoy this one. “Amid the overwhelming monotony of the everyday, it’s the rare individual who enjoys lying, who indulges and revels in it, who relishes treating others with malice.” Not so rare here, though.
Barely memorable for me. I much preferred the superficially similar The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee.
November 28, 2020
First thing first, I have a serious thing for the title of this short novel. Last Winter We Parted. It is absolutely beautiful to me.
So this is clearly a case where I picked it up for very superficial reason and didn’t really have that much expectation to begin with. I still spent a good amount of time getting lost and trying to find my way back. It has a great beginning but with those confusing POVs that are almost impossible to distinguish at times, I came to expect somewhat of an explosive revelation at the end. Which the novel failed to deliver for me.
So this is clearly a case where I picked it up for very superficial reason and didn’t really have that much expectation to begin with. I still spent a good amount of time getting lost and trying to find my way back. It has a great beginning but with those confusing POVs that are almost impossible to distinguish at times, I came to expect somewhat of an explosive revelation at the end. Which the novel failed to deliver for me.
February 26, 2016
- My Description -
Would you ever want to write a book about a cold blooded killer?
A young and aspiring Japanese author wants to do just that.
Photographer Yudai Kiharazaka is on death row.
He's accused of burning two women to death.
On top of killing them, He snapped photographs of their burning bodies. Pretty brutal.
He tells anyone who will listen that he's the guilty one.
Did he really do it?
Is the real killer behind those steel bars?
- My Review -
I was so excited to begin reading this book.
It sounds so dark and twisted.
Well, It was dark and twisted.
That's the good news.
This book had so much potential to be a heart stopper.
The way the book was written, either through bad translation, bad editing or something else, it was lost on me.
I understood what occurred and how it happened.
I get that.
It was difficult to decipher who was talking in areas of the book.
There were certain parts that when I thought was one person, it turned out to be someone else.
It wasn't clear.
I was never sure who it was.
Sometimes I had to read certain paragraphs over and over to understand, and still wasn't sure.
This book would have received a solid 5 if it had been clear in the wording.
This is an un-corrected copy, so maybe (hopefully!) it all gets corrected in the final edition.
It's dark and twisted. Bonus!
It has an ending you won't see coming. Score!
March 24, 2019
I can't believe I hadn't written a review for this awesome book before, therefore I especially tore myself form Batman online fanfics to pen my review now:
For starter, for a book featuring a serial murderer/talented photographer; it's freaking damn scary when Mr. Murderer said: "I am going to live inside you."
I bought this book from a bookstore in Shinjuku and I was hooked during the first few chapters because I really love how the serial murderer and his crime is written, every detail is so realistically and believably written! But what else did you expect? It's penned by Fuminori Nakamura after all!
I consider this book as Nakamura at his finest, alongside The Thief; let's see what we get here: at around 58% into the story, we already have a man murdering two women (for art, hehehehe), a creepy doll creator, the murderer's strange sister and a full-on mystery, plus the author is clearly mind-fucking you!
Still, I must warn you that comparing with the awesome opening, the ending part of the story is a bit weak.
A helpful review from Tim: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
For starter, for a book featuring a serial murderer/talented photographer; it's freaking damn scary when Mr. Murderer said: "I am going to live inside you."
I bought this book from a bookstore in Shinjuku and I was hooked during the first few chapters because I really love how the serial murderer and his crime is written, every detail is so realistically and believably written! But what else did you expect? It's penned by Fuminori Nakamura after all!
I consider this book as Nakamura at his finest, alongside The Thief; let's see what we get here: at around 58% into the story, we already have a man murdering two women (for art, hehehehe), a creepy doll creator, the murderer's strange sister and a full-on mystery, plus the author is clearly mind-fucking you!
Still, I must warn you that comparing with the awesome opening, the ending part of the story is a bit weak.
A helpful review from Tim: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
November 18, 2014
In many ways, Japanese suspense and mystery novels are an acquired taste. They tend to be darker than American and European novels of the same genre and more likely to be inundated with strange, unlikable and, dare I say, inscrutable characters. They also tend to be amazingly imaginative and philosophically oriented. Fuminori Naklamura's Last Winter We Parted is certainly all of that. Yet as a whole it is not all that exciting.
The basic plot involves a journalist who is interviewing a man, a photographer by trade, on death row who killed two women by setting them on fire. He admits to killing them but blames the women. The journalist's investigation leads to the the commended man's sister and an artist that makes dolls resembling the buyer's loved ones. Quickly the journalist becomes intimately involved with the sister and is pulled into their twisted relationships. He begins to regret his involvement in the investigation. This all leads to a surprising and satisfying twist at the end.
So what's the problem? While the protagonist becomes overly involved and entrenched in the story, we do not. There is very little to involve us. All the characters are too unlikeable and we know very little about them even after a few convoluted back-stories. But the main culprit is the poor structuring of the story. There is a mix of first person narrative plus narration through letters and even Twitter. It is often nearly impossible to figure out whose perspective we are looking at. The result is a disorienting mix of viewpoints that blunt any chance for involvement. When we get to the end we can appreciated the strange twist but it is a cold appreciation of style over emotion. In foreign language novels, it is easy to blame the translation and I do think there is some blame headed that way. But mainly the author 's obsession with literary style becomes as relentless as his allegedly murderous photographer's obsession for his art. Overall, it was a impressive attempt to tell a different type of thriller yet not a successful one.
The basic plot involves a journalist who is interviewing a man, a photographer by trade, on death row who killed two women by setting them on fire. He admits to killing them but blames the women. The journalist's investigation leads to the the commended man's sister and an artist that makes dolls resembling the buyer's loved ones. Quickly the journalist becomes intimately involved with the sister and is pulled into their twisted relationships. He begins to regret his involvement in the investigation. This all leads to a surprising and satisfying twist at the end.
So what's the problem? While the protagonist becomes overly involved and entrenched in the story, we do not. There is very little to involve us. All the characters are too unlikeable and we know very little about them even after a few convoluted back-stories. But the main culprit is the poor structuring of the story. There is a mix of first person narrative plus narration through letters and even Twitter. It is often nearly impossible to figure out whose perspective we are looking at. The result is a disorienting mix of viewpoints that blunt any chance for involvement. When we get to the end we can appreciated the strange twist but it is a cold appreciation of style over emotion. In foreign language novels, it is easy to blame the translation and I do think there is some blame headed that way. But mainly the author 's obsession with literary style becomes as relentless as his allegedly murderous photographer's obsession for his art. Overall, it was a impressive attempt to tell a different type of thriller yet not a successful one.
January 17, 2015
2.5 Stars
The basic story is very much like In Cold Blood. A writer is sent to interview a convicted killer. The killer is a photographer who has been found guilty of burning two women to death. There is no doubt that he is guilty. He stood there and photographed the women as they burned. But the more time the writer spends on the story, the more he starts to question this. Did the photographer really kill these women? Or is there a important piece of information missing? A piece that could change everything?
I used to read a lot of mysteries as a older teen/young adult. I don't remember why I started shying away from the genre, but it probably had something to do with predictability. Just recently I've started reading them again, and this was a great "jumping back into a genre". The story full of twist and turns and predictability is nowhere in sight. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. The story is told from multiple POVs. You're not always told what POV you're reading. Add that to the fact that a few of the characters have very similar names, and you have a recipe for extreme confusion in parts. Something that should have really bothered me but didn't, was the fact that none of the characters are likable. They're all awful, despicable people. I think the reason it worked for me was because the author didn't try to hide how awful they were. He didn't try to say "yeah, that was a really fucked up thing to do, BUT they meant well". He let them be exactly who they were.
I would read anther title by the author.
The basic story is very much like In Cold Blood. A writer is sent to interview a convicted killer. The killer is a photographer who has been found guilty of burning two women to death. There is no doubt that he is guilty. He stood there and photographed the women as they burned. But the more time the writer spends on the story, the more he starts to question this. Did the photographer really kill these women? Or is there a important piece of information missing? A piece that could change everything?
I used to read a lot of mysteries as a older teen/young adult. I don't remember why I started shying away from the genre, but it probably had something to do with predictability. Just recently I've started reading them again, and this was a great "jumping back into a genre". The story full of twist and turns and predictability is nowhere in sight. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. The story is told from multiple POVs. You're not always told what POV you're reading. Add that to the fact that a few of the characters have very similar names, and you have a recipe for extreme confusion in parts. Something that should have really bothered me but didn't, was the fact that none of the characters are likable. They're all awful, despicable people. I think the reason it worked for me was because the author didn't try to hide how awful they were. He didn't try to say "yeah, that was a really fucked up thing to do, BUT they meant well". He let them be exactly who they were.
I would read anther title by the author.
December 8, 2021
'I bet the butterflies never suspect that their own wings drive other creatures to madness—that is to say, humans who have no relationship with their sphere of life. By the way, the collective noun for butterflies is a rabble. Did you know that?'
Despite the slightly jarring narrative, Nakamura was able to pull this off in a supremely clever way. It's certainly written by someone who is very well-read. Heavily influenced by French existentialist writers, and/but also Modernist Japanese writers (with a brush of old Japanese narratives). Camus and Sartre comes to mind very easily when reading the second half of Nakamura's book. Fab translation work by Allison Markin Powell. I've previously enjoyed his other book, The Boy in the Earth (winner of the Akutagawa Prize), and this was just as spectacular. Review to come in a bit.
'I thought, when this was all over, I would experience some kind of revelation about good and evil, but it’s strange … I don’t feel anything at all.
It’s funny, even though I’m sure I’ve become a monster … I still love you, even now.'
May 9, 2021
ดำดิ่งถึงจิตใจมนุษย์จริงๆ อ่านแล้วบางทีก็แอบมีขนลุกตาม คนเรามันทำได้ถึงขั้นนี้เลยหรอ วิปริตโดยแท้ เป็นเรื่องที่สะท้อนให้เห็นมุมมองเบื้องลึกของก้นบึ้งในใจจิตใจมากๆ ความแค้น ความรัก การคิดวางแผน แถมยังมีการจิกกัดกฎหมายญี่ปุ่นเบาๆ เรียกได้ว่าเป็นเล่มเล็กบางๆ ที่คุณภาพคับแก้ว พล็อตเรื่องดี วิธีการเล่าเรื่องก็รวดเร็วฉับไว ยิ่งอ่านยิ่งเพิ่มความยากรู้จนต้องรีบอ่านต่อรวดเดียวจบ สรุปคือดี สนุก และได้อะไรกลับมาหลังจากอ่านจบแน่นอน
Read
October 28, 2014The first thing I'll say here is that this book is not really geared toward cozy mystery readers or people who enjoy action thrillers or whodunits. It's much more complex, it's very dark and frankly, it's weird in a very pleasing aesthetic sort of way that appeals to me. The second thing I'll say is that I've decided to reread this book -- I'm positive there are a number of things I missed the first time around. Certainly a reread isn't a requirement for this book -- but it's just how I do things when I really want to get to get the most out of a novel. So I'm not really leaving a review for now -- that will come later.
For right now, I'll leave it at this: if you're into darkness in your fiction or books that explore the dark side of human nature, you will certainly be rewarded here. I can also vouch for the quality of Nakamura's writing now, having read all of three of his books that have been translated into English. When I have finished reading the novel again, I'll post my final thoughts.
As it so happens, I was given an ARC by Soho (for which I am grateful), but I bought a hardback copy of this book for my library, so if anyone is interested in the ARC and you live in the US, I will gladly pass it on - and pay postage. I certainly don't need two copies. Just leave a comment.
For right now, I'll leave it at this: if you're into darkness in your fiction or books that explore the dark side of human nature, you will certainly be rewarded here. I can also vouch for the quality of Nakamura's writing now, having read all of three of his books that have been translated into English. When I have finished reading the novel again, I'll post my final thoughts.
As it so happens, I was given an ARC by Soho (for which I am grateful), but I bought a hardback copy of this book for my library, so if anyone is interested in the ARC and you live in the US, I will gladly pass it on - and pay postage. I certainly don't need two copies. Just leave a comment.
March 19, 2022
The third book by Nakamura that I've listened to. Though the audio book is done well, I think I need to read the paperback one more time (and it's worth a second reading).
The narrator has been commissioned to write about a man on death row, a photographer who is accused of burning two women to death. What made the man do it? As the narrator investigates, he runs into the perpetrator's sister, a black widow character, and a doll-maker. It turns out that like the murderer, the narrator was also a member of the organization that the doll-maker headed.
This is an exceptionally well-executed creepy but believable work. The characters have oddities, but the grotesque events that happen are the results of things spinning out of control from small perturbances.
The whodunit is resolved about mid-way, and from there it veers into a why- and how-dunit. Words Without Borders has this excellent review of the book.
One aspect of the howdunit is, perhaps, very close to , but the book is so much more than a "crime" novel that it didn't matter to me.
The narrator has been commissioned to write about a man on death row, a photographer who is accused of burning two women to death. What made the man do it? As the narrator investigates, he runs into the perpetrator's sister, a black widow character, and a doll-maker. It turns out that like the murderer, the narrator was also a member of the organization that the doll-maker headed.
This is an exceptionally well-executed creepy but believable work. The characters have oddities, but the grotesque events that happen are the results of things spinning out of control from small perturbances.
The whodunit is resolved about mid-way, and from there it veers into a why- and how-dunit. Words Without Borders has this excellent review of the book.
One aspect of the howdunit is, perhaps, very close to , but the book is so much more than a "crime" novel that it didn't matter to me.
December 26, 2016
3.5 stars
I should learn to submit to the judgement of the good folks reviewing books on this platform rather than expecting to discover a depth hitherto unseen by the common populace.
I really wanted to like this one, but that might just be because I wanted to read a nice psychological thriller and the description for this one hit all the right spots (btw..any suggestions in this genre are welcome!). And while it touched on a lot of potentially exciting pathologies of the psychopath none were sufficiently explored to a depth to make them as powerful as they could have been. All in all, the book has a lot of potential to be a very good book. It's just too short to do justice to its content. What a pity.
I should learn to submit to the judgement of the good folks reviewing books on this platform rather than expecting to discover a depth hitherto unseen by the common populace.
I really wanted to like this one, but that might just be because I wanted to read a nice psychological thriller and the description for this one hit all the right spots (btw..any suggestions in this genre are welcome!). And while it touched on a lot of potentially exciting pathologies of the psychopath none were sufficiently explored to a depth to make them as powerful as they could have been. All in all, the book has a lot of potential to be a very good book. It's just too short to do justice to its content. What a pity.
March 14, 2019
ให้ความรู้สึกว่า Nakamura ได้อิทธิพลจากงานเขียนของ Akutagawa มามากๆ โดยเฉพาะเรื่องสั้น "ฉากนรก" ที่คล้ายๆ จะเอามาเป็น Reference ในเรื่องสั้นเรื่องนี้เลย
ชอบประเด็นหลายๆ อย่างที่คนเขียนพยายามพาเราเข้าไป เช่นเรื่อง 'จิตใจที่ดำดิ่งที่สุดของมนุษย์' มนุษย์แต่ละคนอยากจะก้าวข้ามขีดจำกัดที่ต้องห้ามมากๆ ผิดศีลธรรม, ทำให้คนตายเพื่อต้องการสร้างศิลปะที่ต้องห้าม
ฤดูหนาวเมื่อเราพราก เล่นกับอารมณ์ความรู้สึกคนอ่านได้เจ็บปวดที่สุด
โปรดเตรียมใจก่อนอ่าน มันอาจทำให้จิตใจคุณโดนปีศาจพรากไปโดยไม่รู้ตัว
ชอบประเด็นหลายๆ อย่างที่คนเขียนพยายามพาเราเข้าไป เช่นเรื่อง 'จิตใจที่ดำดิ่งที่สุดของมนุษย์' มนุษย์แต่ละคนอยากจะก้าวข้ามขีดจำกัดที่ต้องห้ามมากๆ ผิดศีลธรรม, ทำให้คนตายเพื่อต้องการสร้างศิลปะที่ต้องห้าม
ฤดูหนาวเมื่อเราพราก เล่นกับอารมณ์ความรู้สึกคนอ่านได้เจ็บปวดที่สุด
โปรดเตรียมใจก่อนอ่าน มันอาจทำให้จิตใจคุณโดนปีศาจพรากไปโดยไม่รู้ตัว
January 23, 2019
ระทึกชวนติดตาม พล็อตซับซ้อนดี กลวิธีการเล่าดี นักเขียนเก่ง ตัดเหตุการณ์ไปมาสลับจดหมาย/บันทึก สลับมุมมองการเล่าไปอย่างราบรื่น เล่มบางๆแต่เอาอยู่ ดีเหลือเกิน
February 28, 2019
γιαπωνεζικο διαμαντακι, στοχαστικο αστυνομικο περι τεχνης, επιθυμιας, αυθεντικοτητας και μιμησης
August 31, 2016
Japan is one of the country I loved besides my own country. So no surprise there when I picked out this book out of thousands book in my library. I was drawn in by the mysterious synopsis (yeay murder case!). I don't even remember the last mystery and thriller book I've read. That reason alone enough makes me excited to start reading the book.
While I was reading the book, I found out the similarity among Japanese literature. But if it's not, maybe it's just a coincidence. You see, I've read Haruki Murakami book, The Colourless Tsukuru. It has a lot of sex! So does this book. I'm completely speechless when it comes to stuff like that. From my point of view, it's unnecessary to include such thing. The story would still be enjoyable without sex scene. So, what do you think about that?
What I love about Japanese book is it makes me think deeper than I supposed to. I'm barely 17 years old and all the philosophy seemed to get more and more complicated. I ought to think more so that I could digest what the author trying to deliver. I love thinking but doing so during exam week isn't what I should do, right?
What I'm trying to say here is the book was quiet good. I should stop reading for exam week. Maybe not.
While I was reading the book, I found out the similarity among Japanese literature. But if it's not, maybe it's just a coincidence. You see, I've read Haruki Murakami book, The Colourless Tsukuru. It has a lot of sex! So does this book. I'm completely speechless when it comes to stuff like that. From my point of view, it's unnecessary to include such thing. The story would still be enjoyable without sex scene. So, what do you think about that?
What I love about Japanese book is it makes me think deeper than I supposed to. I'm barely 17 years old and all the philosophy seemed to get more and more complicated. I ought to think more so that I could digest what the author trying to deliver. I love thinking but doing so during exam week isn't what I should do, right?
What I'm trying to say here is the book was quiet good. I should stop reading for exam week. Maybe not.
March 8, 2019
A bit slow at the beginning, too much of vague plot/characters giving me so much questions. I did not fancy the narration style that much. Narratives a bit loose, not really gripping but I appreciate how the author kept the mystery wrapped and untold, not even a pinch of hint until to the latter part-- a surprised twist and unexpected reversal of crime. A story of revenge, frustration and obsession-- the twist was actually good just that the way it was told and revealed was a bit of a mess and chaos. The characters were dark and twisted, probably sicko, too mysterious. A thought-provoking murder mystery but if the narration and plot progress been done more 'neatly' I would perfectly love it.
August 8, 2021
I like a good novella. But a good novella needs to feel complete in itself, like it's the length it is because that's the length it needs to be. This read to me like an incomplete draft for a novel. It might have been a pretty good novel--about violence and identity, art and the slipperiness of perspective, the untrustworthiness of narratives, the reduction of women by men into aesthetic objects for their own consumption, and so on and so forth--but all of these ideas are barely hinted at, and the gaps in the narrative feel less like deliberate ambiguity and complexity, and more like laziness and a reluctance/inability to push the story where it needs to go. Disappointing.
August 13, 2014
A writer visits a convicted murderer, photographer Yudai Kiharazaka, in prison. He is awaiting execution for burning two women to death and photographing them as they were on fire. Now, the author wants to write a book about him and his crimes and begins to investigate what happened. During his investigation, the writer is constantly warned off. He discovers that the photographer and his sister Akari were raised in an institution, the children of neglectful parents; one of which abandoned them. When he finally meets Akari, he finds she is a promiscuous woman, who seems to bring tragedy to her lovers.
We follow the story through interviews, meetings, letters and even through twitter, as the story jumps from character to character. There is the first victim, Akiko, , the photographer and his sister, Yudai’s friend Katari and the rather creepy ‘doll creator’. This is a dark and disturbing crime novel, dealing with obsession, stalking and fantasies. As the story unfolds we wonder whether Yudai’s confessions are actually true, for nothing in this book is straight forward.
Although I enjoyed this book, I felt slightly distanced from the characters. That may have simply been the style of the writing, or it could have been due to the translation. However, it was certainly an intriguing read. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, for review.
We follow the story through interviews, meetings, letters and even through twitter, as the story jumps from character to character. There is the first victim, Akiko, , the photographer and his sister, Yudai’s friend Katari and the rather creepy ‘doll creator’. This is a dark and disturbing crime novel, dealing with obsession, stalking and fantasies. As the story unfolds we wonder whether Yudai’s confessions are actually true, for nothing in this book is straight forward.
Although I enjoyed this book, I felt slightly distanced from the characters. That may have simply been the style of the writing, or it could have been due to the translation. However, it was certainly an intriguing read. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, for review.
October 23, 2017
Very dry Japanese psychological murder-mystery thing. The structure of the book - pairing first-person narrative with "archival material" from other characters - means the pacing is pretty poor, and by the book's "climax" I had lost track of what the core questions really were. The last third of the book on its own was better than the novel as a whole, I thought - though in hindight the way it's laid out is fairly interesting, it's not that engaging. The sparse, emotionless prose doesn't do much to alleviate that. Disappointing, for the most part.
December 29, 2015
Read in a day! Not sure Ive done that before but 2 sittings & it was done, mind a fair few of the pages are blank
Engaging enough story with the first half laying out the groundwork & introducing the characters both dead & alive, whilst the second half is more the reveal & ultimately the twist(s).
Worth a read if yer in the mood for a short story
3.5 stars for me with that rounded down although it's better than it's current rating on here in the low 3's.
Engaging enough story with the first half laying out the groundwork & introducing the characters both dead & alive, whilst the second half is more the reveal & ultimately the twist(s).
Worth a read if yer in the mood for a short story
3.5 stars for me with that rounded down although it's better than it's current rating on here in the low 3's.
February 24, 2017
Very dark and a bit hard to follow. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending either.
March 2, 2020
What a disturbing book! Fascinating and beguiling in its exploration of the darkest crevices of our minds. I hadn’t heard of Nakamura, but the Japanese author adores Tolstoy, and his novels are a reflection of the acute psychological observations that the Russian great was known for. I had no idea of any of this when I randomly picked up ‘Last Winter We Parted,’ apart from a vague interest in the premise.
A writer has to interview a man convicted for the murder of two women. It reminded me of the chilling ‘Let’s Talk About Kevin.’ But that’s as far as the similarity goes. Here, Nakamura spins you round on a roller-coaster of bewildering emotions, hidden desires, and acute, numbing pain. The twists and turns I didn’t anticipate and that makes for a great crime read. I would be turning to more of Nakamura when I recover from holding my breath.
A writer has to interview a man convicted for the murder of two women. It reminded me of the chilling ‘Let’s Talk About Kevin.’ But that’s as far as the similarity goes. Here, Nakamura spins you round on a roller-coaster of bewildering emotions, hidden desires, and acute, numbing pain. The twists and turns I didn’t anticipate and that makes for a great crime read. I would be turning to more of Nakamura when I recover from holding my breath.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 285 reviews