さくらのまち

by Sugaru Miaki, 三秋縋

二度と戻らないつもりでいた桜の町に彼を引き戻したのは、一本の電話だった。

「高砂澄香が自殺しました」

澄香――それは彼の青春を彩る少女の名で、彼の心を欺いた少女の名で、彼の故郷を桜の町に変えてしまった少女の名だ。
澄香の死を確かめるべく桜の町に舞い戻った彼は、かつての澄香と瓜二つの分身と出会う。
あの頃と同じことが繰り返されようとしている、と彼は思う。
ただしあの頃と異なるのは、彼が欺く側で、彼女が欺かれる側だということだ。

人の「本当」が見えなくなった現代の、痛く、悲しい罪を描く、圧巻の青春ミステリー!

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2024

About the author

Sugaru Miaki (三秋縋) is a Japanese writer. He was born in 1990 in Iwate Prefecture. He debuted in 2013 with Starting Over. He is also the author of Three Days of Happiness, Parasites in Love, and Your Story.

In March 2019, Your Story was nominated for the 40th Eiji Yoshikawa Literary Newcomer Award.

See 三秋縋

Reviews

[Mehdi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite this rating, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy reading this novel, I would have DNFed it otherwise. But that’s only because, in truth, I’m a philistine.
That notwithstanding, the writing is often awfully bad. At times it was so poor that it broke my immersion. And by this I by no means mean the quality of the translation or the choice of words; I’m grateful to the translator for making Sugaru’s works accessible. I’m referring to the very substance of the work itself.

[Tommy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Town of Sakura (English) seems to be one of the weakest stories from this author as it seems the story could be tighter but I was not as engaged in this setting where people are forced to be to prompted to support others who are in risk of suicide.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short read for nostalgia’s sake. I was a big fan of 3 days of happiness so gave this a try too. Possibly due to a combination of my increased maturity and lower tolerance for poor prose vs plot focus, I found this story not too compelling. Still enjoyable as an easy read to wind down.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept was interesting. Kujirai's story wasn't compelling and the detective's role felt like a strange bit of magical realism that left me confused.