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.
This was such a great novel! Like, by now I already know I love Miaki Sugaru's books, and I bought this with some others just because they were written by him. I knew nothing about the story, but man, was it worth the read.
There's a clear pattern in Sugaru's books where they start in elementary school, and from there go back to current day. The protagonists are usually unlikeable, at first. Mental health is described really well.
Most of that is the case in Kimi ga Denwa wo Kakete ita Basho. And for unlikeable protagonists, this one wasn't even that bad. He was a bit annoying at first, sure, but that didn't last long at all, and I never disliked him, like I've done with a lot of other protagonists in Sugaru's stories. The development was still there, and he definitely became a better person throughout the book. This book also had more side characters than I'm used to in Sugaru's books, and they were well-fleshed out and interesting in their own ways.
I recently learned that Sugaru is from Iwate, and the scenery of this story is very familiar to me, as someone living in Iwate. However, I think this would probably be relatable to people living in rural areas all over Japan.
I love how the magic is woven into Sugaru's books. This book had less of it than usual, but it was still believable despite being impossible.
In terms of mental health, I felt like this wasn't as hard-hitting as some of his other books. The problems of lack of selfconfidence and pessimism were there, but felt a bit more shallow than what I'm used to from Sugaru. I prefer the mental health descriptions in his other books, but this wasn't bad, and definitely not unlikely, just different.
This is the first book of a duology and I felt like it cut of at a perfect point. There was a sense of conclusion, and while it definitely left room for the next volume, you could read it as a stand-alone as well, imo. I still want to read the next volume, in fact, I've already started it, because I'm interested to see what will happen to all these characters from here on.
What you do for love? Enduring the things you didn't expect would come? I love the story, I don't like the way people love without conditions just because you'd be settled with much less.
The Place You Called From (English) Bruh I did not know this was a two part book because it ends very abruptly. 3 stars since it feels like half a story, but overall the story is very good and deals with a guy who has a birthmark taking up half of his face and inferiority problems that come along with that.
it's hard to review this book because truly it is only half the story.
so this will be less a review and more a warning make sure you have both when you start this because it ends less like a set up for a sequel and more like a chapter leading to the next
I think I have to read the second book first before giving any review. I can't even understand why the author think that the story needs to be separated.
I loved the meta-narrative of being quasi-participants and witnesses to Miaki Sugaru's (and to a certain extent, our) Greatest Summer Love Story of All Time.