Ngăn Kéo Trên Cùng

by Fuminori Nakamura

"Ngăn kéo trên cùng phần tăm tối" là câu chuyện về Kozuka Ryodai một cậu bé lớn lên trong một gia đình “không bình thường” và cậu bị chính mẹ mình tống vào Trung tâm Hỗ trợ Trẻ em và bị bỏ mặc kể từ đó. Sau này, cậu được nhận nuôi và rồi trở thành bác sĩ.

Kozuka đã gặp gỡ và nhận điều trị tâm lý cho Yukari - một cô gái bất hạnh đang phải chịu đựng những chấn thương tâm lý vô cùng nghiêm trọng. Tình cảm nảy sinh đã thôi thúc Kozuka không ngừng nỗ lực chữa trị cho Yukari, thế nhưng biện pháp duy nhất giúp được cô gái ấy là xoá sạch những ký ức đau buồn của cô. Và điều này đồng nghĩa với việc cô cũng sẽ quên luôn cả Kozuka.

Yukari rời khỏi Kozuka, bắt đầu một cuộc sống mới nhưng rồi tình cờ gặp lại người quen cũ, những ký ức đau khổ ngày xưa theo đó bị khơi dậy và cô biến mất.

Sự biến mất của Yukari khiến Kozuka gần như sụp đổ. Và rồi anh khám phá ra một bí mật, và một kế hoạch "ăn miếng trả miếng", một kế hoạch tinh vi của một bác sĩ điều trị tâm lý đồng thời cũng là một bệnh nhân có vấn đề về tâm lý đã sẵn sàng.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Japanese Literature, Japan, Mystery Thriller

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 2016

About the author

His 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.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know what you think this book is about going into it, but you are most likely wrong. I know I was. What is it about? Honestly, the less you know the better. This is a book you should walk into blind and experience for yourself. Instead of a plot description, let me give you a warning instead.

Nakamura has written several extremely dark novels. I'm on record as saying I love all of his books that I've read with only one exception (and I've read all that have been translated into English except for Cult X and The Kingdom which I will eventually get around to). The Boy in the Earth was not a terrible work. Far from it. In fact the reason I do not like that book is because it was so well written that it made me feel borderline sick while reading it. I had to finish it in one sitting because I knew if I put it down I would not be picking it back up.

This book was not as hard hitting for me as The Boy in the Earth, but I highly suspect it will be for many readers. In fact, I highly suspect it will be worse for quite a few. This is a dark novel. It goes many uncomfortable places. Things happen in here that I assure you will bother most readers to an extent once they figure out exactly what is going on. While all of Nakamura's books fit into a noir category, I would say this one is one of the darkest and that is saying something. It is also the closest to a genuine mystery of the books that I have read. The mystery is not so much a "who done it" as it is figuring out what exactly is going on. What does the narrator know… and who exactly is even narrating?

Dear readers, this is, in my humble opinion a masterpiece. It is dark and as uncomfortable as a book can get. Do not come here looking to feel hopeful. I think it easily sits beside Last Winter We Parted as my favorite of Nakamura's books (it also feels closer to it from a structural standpoint than any of his other books, to the extent that it's almost a companion novel). Which one is my favorite of the two? Right now it's too close to call. The book receives a perfect 5/5 stars but with a warning to all readers… please don't read it if you're feeling depressed. This one will not help at all.

"Turn this page, and you may forfeit your entire life."

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book has taught me something about me as a reader:

I need a certain amount of clarity to enjoy a novel. I definitely don't need all things spelled out to me. I like to work my brain and engage with a text. But, I DO need the author to meet me a certain distance and offer me a baseline of clarity.

"Here," I say to the author, "here I am. Here's the money it cost to buy your book ($30.00 CAD in this case). Here's the time and energy it will take to read it, and the hope, and the enthusiasm, and the insta post of your lovely cover, and the after-chat, and the review I'll write. All I need from you... is to know what the shit is going on."

Nakamura doesn't supply that, though. This book takes "unreliable narrator" to another level, a level that left me woefully behind. I felt even more stymied than I did reading Laird Hunt's In the House In the Dark of the Woods, and that's saying something.

I was so busy trying to understand just the very basic elements: who is this person (is he who he says he is? Or is he insane? Is he any number of characters that come later? Or none?) and what is he doing (is he a killer? a psychoanalyst? a victim? a child, a man?) that I didn't have the luxury of deciding what I thought of it as a novel.

Comparisons to Camus, to Spark, to Highsmith (yes, these are the boasts made on the back cover) are absolutely perplexing. Wrong, even. I'm hoping some other wonderful readers can enlighten me.

Sadly, not for me. Gorgeous cover, though.

[Henk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories in stories in stories, in a fractured way reflecting earlier parts of the book. Bleak, convoluted, but also strangely captivating, best enjoyed in one feverish reading session.
What is a self? Under a particular set of circumstances it becomes impossible to tell.

Quite different to what I imagined upfront, an intricate thriller with only losers in the end.
We start of with a killer reading the memoirs of the person whose identity he takes on.
This reminded me of Astral Season, Beastly Season, with a high school murder as a starting point.
The narrator reads things like: I could use violence to attempt to change my circumstances

We also have marital abuse in the first 10 minutes of the book as well, and even more murders.
Anime and manga, together with videogames, serve as an escape of even worse circumstances.
There are voices giving orders in the minds of peoples and body disassociation, commands as coping mechanism against bullying.

The psychological assessment feels a bit reductionist, I doubt that the state of mind can really be understood from labels like infantalisation and sexual bullying

Also the Voorman problem of Number9Dream from David Mitchell comes to mind: https://youtu.be/6-hofSSAyOI

How does one prove one is sane is definitely an important theme that Fuminori Nakamura touches upon. I doubt a psychiatrist would just move to psychoanalysis and hypnosis. And are implanted memories real?
While reading My Annihilation I was also reminded of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Memento, with the interplay between memory, sanity and identity (I was the anomaly).

Suicide, depression and what is a self are things that confront the characters, while the whole story also gave me vibes of 19th century books like Notre Dame de Paris with the focus on revenge. When I was still a member of the human race is also thought somewhere, which I associated with Sayaka Murata her last novel Earthlings.

What kind of an abandoned horror hospital is just available? That was something I did ask myself after finishing this dark trip. But the author draws the reader in relentlessly and makes one think on uncomfortable topics. Maybe the following quote is correct, but one is left feeling grateful that this is the case, instead of fully inhabiting the world of My Annihilation:
Our lives are so much smaller than the lives we imagine for ourselves.

[Zoeytron]

I stepped into this novel with my eyes wide open, knowing it would prove to be an irregular weave.  And now, almost 150 pages in, I am punching out and and marking it as dnf.  I have no more idea than the man in the moon what it is that I am reading.  Clueless, and then some.  I'd love to use the word absurd, but it's more likely that it is simply over my head.  At any rate, I am only reading words at this point and not enjoying them.  Time to move on.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

A man reads a mysterious manuscript in a lodge. He’s there to assume a new identity. Also in the room is a suitcase - with a body inside. So begins the bizarre journey of Fuminori Nakamura’s latest novel, My Annihilation.

I don’t really rate Nakamura very highly as a writer - he’s written one mediocre novel, The Thief, and everything else I’ve read of his has been poor - so it’s not surprising that My Annihilation turned out to be also not good, though I’d hoped for it to be at least on the same level as The Thief, so it was a bit disappointing.

It starts well with an intriguing setup in the lodge and the strange surroundings. I’m fine with the dark material and the story-within-the-story can be a fun storytelling device. And it gets pretty good too with the fictional story of the Otaku Murderer and Kozuka’s traumatic past. I was definitely invested in the mystery up to that point - and then it collapses in on itself and never recovers!

Without giving away spoilers, this is an increasingly and immensely convoluted and contrived revenge story hinging on the most absurd understanding of brainwashing via hypnosis and electroconvulsive therapy. Characters are introduced who turn out to be other characters who’ve been introduced in a silly game of literary musical chairs, and, because Nakamura writes them all in the same voice, it made it practically impossible to follow who was who after a certain point.

I thought Kozuka was the main character but then he’s not really Kozuka and then suddenly there are four other characters - Wakui, Yoshimi, Kida and Mamiya - who are also swapping identities/roles. Nakamura also tries for too many twists in his story so that this character is really tricking this character and again and again - it’s too much. It turns a promising narrative into incoherent sludge. It might have helped if the chapters had character names at the start so you could tell who was speaking - might.

Nakamura doesn’t write female characters well either - nowhere is it more clear than in this novel. Yukari and Kozuka’s mother aren’t really characters so much as motivations for the male characters to create and enact the labyrinthine revenge plot. Female “characters” in this novel are there to be beaten, raped and, in one instance, pushed off a cliff!

The format of the story added to the confusion - there’s the manuscript, the book within the book, then there are recordings, files, and flashbacks, sometimes told from the perspectives of different characters. And the subject matter itself - near-constant domestic violence amongst all the characters - felt gratuitous and pointless; I didn’t follow the many twists nor could I discern what Nakamura was trying to say about it all (if anything).

There are completely black page interstitials separating the chapters which might serve as representative of the memory gaps of the characters. That’s a nice touch, if that’s what Nakamura was going for - otherwise it’s another useless superficial feature like the myriad formats presented throughout the novel.

Parts of the novel are fairly interesting - mostly the dark stories of Kozuka and the Otaku Murderer, and the framing was initially compelling - and generally the prose is easy to read if not very effective or memorable. It’s just that the parts don’t gel together well into anything coming close to a strong, coherent narrative.

The characters are poorly written - they’re either interchangeable male weirdos or one-dimensional female punching bags - and the plot is a mess. It’s original but only because it’s so dumb, nobody would’ve conceived of it before anyway! If you’re interested in this author, I wouldn’t bother with My Annihilation - try The Thief instead.

[Jesse (JesseTheReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5) LISTEN.. this was one of the most confusing books I've ever read and despite that I was still HOOKED from beginning to end. The author did a fantastic job of building up suspense and adding in sprinkles of tension at just the right moments. I loved the concept of delving into a story within a story and I can't say it was executed in the best way, because I think it pushed the book deeper into confusion territory--BUT there was something about it that I loved. Apart of me wonders if I need to give it a few reads for things to become fully clear, but I don't have time for that. (my tbr pile is quaking at the thought of me reading this book a couple more times :P) I think had things been a little less foggy, I would probably rate this book higher!

I honestly want more people to read this one just to hear more thoughts on it! BUT.. I know it's not going to be a book that's necessarily well received so this is *not* me recommending it. LOL.


...I dread the day I have to explain this book in a yt video or to a friend. ;--;

[Ms. Smartarse · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unnamed protagonist, with an implied shady past, is on the brink of changing his identity to that of Ryodai Kozuka. He is not particularly interested what past he may inadvertently be inheriting, yet he starts reading Kozuka's (presumed) diaries. In the protagonist's defence, said diaries start out with a threat to the reader's very sense of self.



For the most part, this turned into a fairly interesting and creepy story that lead me down a slew of rabbit holes, keen on throwing every possible plot twist my way. Actually, by the end their sheer amount did go a bit too far and had me lose interest... But up until then I was definitely hooked on all the horrific events that preceded said plot twists. So all in all: a very satisfying choice for a Halloween read.

True, the author intended for the reader to explore what it meant to be human, while I was much more interested in how to enact the best revenge. You know: when you're suffering and want the enemy to feel just as miserable as you, but then you realise that not everyone reacts the same way to punishment. So you start to devise bigger and better/meaner punishments only to eventually exhaust yourself so much that you can't even bring yourself to (properly) revel in their just deserts.



Some of the psychiatric treatment descriptions, and psychoanalytic passages also felt rather odd. Kind of like the author really wanted to teach you something, but hadn't quite understood the notions themselves yet, so instead he'd resort to repeating certain ideas over and over again. Or maybe I just wasn't too interested in the theory behind the torture... which is why I was happy to skim most of it.

Score: 4.2/5 stars

All in all, even with my lack of interest in any of the characters' wellbeing, or the theoretical unreliability, I quite enjoyed this book. I would recommend reading it in one sitting though, or as close to one sitting as possible. While I had technically read the story in two days, I took a bit of a lengthy break the first time I started it, and then I ended up losing interest in it for an even longer while.... so in the end I figured I might as well start over from scratch.

[Brandon Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This does a great job of making you feel like you’re losing your mind!! Not exactly a fever dream, more like Inception but with brainwashing.

There’s a lot of psychology stuff, and I definitely preferred the beginning to the end, although I think that’s just because it’s alot easier to follow at the start, and there was alot of really great tension/atmosphere before things got all mind-bendy.

I recommend this if you like being confused!! 😂

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

good god -- that was dark.

full post here: http://www.crimesegments.com/2022/01/...

My Annihilation is yet another book I'm reluctant to label as simply crime fiction -- there are layers upon layers to unfold during the reading, and as the author himself notes in an afterword, in this novel he is exploring "questions about what it means to be human, and what it means to exist in the world," as well as the question "what is a self?"

It doesn't take too long to become completely immersed in this novel, which begins in "a cramped room in a rundown mountain lodge," where our narrator is considering the "various forms of identification" in his bag, all belonging to someone named Ryodai Kozuka. In a corner of the room is a white suitcase which he did not bring there, and on the desk is a manuscript, which he believes just might be Kozuka's life story. As he begins to read, he finds a warning:

"Turn this page, and you may give up your entire life,"

but the narrator reveals that he has "no intention" of giving up his "old life;" all he wants is Kozuka's identity. Noting that while Kozuka may have left some "unfinished business" behind, he assures himself that "it was no business of mine." It's at this point (and we're only on page four) that I realized that it may have been a smart thing to heed that warning, but no.

Without spoiling things for potential readers, what actually emerges here is a sinister plot for revenge, and I must say it's one of the creepiest I've encountered, with the actual mystery behind it all taking a number of surprising twists and turns before all is revealed. Underlying this novel is the answer to the question of "what is a self," to which the author responds that "Under a particular set of circumstances, it becomes impossible to tell." Using various forms of textual material throughout the novel, the author runs with this idea, revealing just how easy it is "to get inside a person's head," an idea at the very heart of this story. He raises questions of identity and memory, especially the ways in which they might be changed or in this case, even created. With that then comes the question of what happens to the original self that must somewhere continue to exist; this sort of philosophical/psychological underpinning is why I noted my reluctance at the outset to define My Annihilation as just another crime novel. At the same time, it moves this book well and deeply into the literary zone, and as the back-cover blurb notes, "into the darkest corners of human consciousness." In short, it's right up my alley.

I love to try to solve mysteries as I read them, but My Annihilation is one of those books where just when you think you have a handle on things, there's a shift and you realize you're completely off base. As quickly as things change here, for me it became a matter of just giving up, going with the flow and letting things reveal themselves. I'm not sure I'd recommend this one to all crime/mystery readers, but it's definitely for people who like their reading on the darker side.

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A twisty, labyrinthine revenge story where nothing is quite as it seems.

This reminded me of those mediocre twisty psychological thriller movies that used to come out all the time in that it relies heavily on the idea that a psychiatrist can exercise deliberate control over someone's mind through a variety of methods. It's not a belief that really holds true anymore, but the novel still works because it's one of those folding in on itself, what is actually happening stories rather than something we are supposed to accept as realism. And yet, like other stories using these devices (you all likely know ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, for example) it is able to say a lot about the lingering effects of trauma and the human desire for revenge and reinvention. Weirdly because of the devices Nakamura uses, this lets us have a narrative where characters are not always sure who they are and what is happening without being really problematic around mental health, which you really wouldn't expect given how much mental health is the center of the story.

This is drastically different from Nakamura's last novel to be translated, CULT X. It's short and very limited in scale. It plays with perspective using a boldness that you don't see often. For a while it's quite disorienting, and even when it eventually becomes more clear what is going on it still seems to float a bit above reality. (Some of this may also have been the formatting of my e-galley, which didn't make it easy to tell when there were breaks in the narrative.)

I am never quite all the way buying what Nakamura is selling when he gets philosophical, but I also find the questions he's considering to be unusual and his point of view unique. There is often a layer of misogyny in his stories and it's here as well, the revenge stories here are almost always rooted in stories of violence against women and girls. It's clear that's part of what Nakamura wants to examine but he never takes us very far past the point of view of the men doing the damage, which always keeps him a bit at a distance for me.

Content warnings here around sexual violence, incest, bullying, and mostly around really bad behavior by medical professionals, specifically psychiatrists and therapists.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.4)

"Most people live their lives ignorant of who they really are."

It's been quite some time since I opened a book of Nakamura's. I found myself enjoying Last Winter We Parted several years back, but due to his books getting mostly average to not-so-good reviews, I thought I had found his diamond in the rough.

Seeing this on my local library's shelf made me think otherwise; the design of the book is top notch and it drew me in. After finishing this in 2 days, I'm glad I chose to check his work out again. This book starts off in a place where you think you know what's going on but that's far from the truth. The juxtaposition of where it starts and where it ends is quite remarkable. It's definitely a book that makes you think, but thinking while reading. It's best not to think too much, but push through. No matter how confused you may become, keep going. It's worth it.

With all that said, I can see why some are not enamored or even care for his type of fiction. Some call him 'zen-noir', psychological mayhem or downright vulgar for the sake of being vulgar. I can see those points of view, but must also say that they're being a bit closed-minded. Life is just that: vulgar - our perceptions of things are linked to the presence or absence of trauma in our childhood.

If you're looking for a simple beach read or something to relax and unwind, don't come here. Ever.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎]

My Annihilation hit me as an interesting mix between The Decagon House Murders and The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare. It resembles The Decagon House Murders in the way the author puts most of his energy into creating a puzzle to be solved. It's like The Man Who Was Thursday in the way the rug keeps being pulled out, where the unquestioned axioms that make up this fictional reality keep shifting and evolving, and what seems 'true' in one chapter no longer feels 'true' in the next chapter.

What this novel wasn't, for me, is in any way disturbing. The characters behave like abstract place markers to be moved along their paths, rather than feeling like three-dimensional stand-ins for real people, and so their sufferings felt correspondingly abstract. On the whole a very different feeling from my last Nakamura novel, Cult X, which was so disturbing and so filled with misogyny and sadism that it brought up questions in me about whether I could read it as a critique of these things vs. as a celebration of these things. So in a way I'm relieved that this novel reminded me more of Nakamura's first novel, The Gun, which like this novel is simpler, and less confronting.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Japanese literature demonstrates what the human mind is capable of most effectively.

There is a reason why this book doesn't have a description; whoever tried to write one must have failed miserably. I struggle to come up with the greatest summary of this book if you were to ask me what it was about. This novel began with something else, then turned into something else, until becoming something different towards the end. It's the kind of book you should read completely blind. I am a crime junkie, so the fact that they frequently discussed Tsutomu Miyazaki, also known as the otaku murderer, who is considered to be Japan's most notorious serial killer, really caught my curiosity.

However, despite its brief length of only 121 pages, I will still only award it two stars because I felt at times that I should put the book down. I believe the author should have made some changes to the psychological component because it was fairly complex and technical. That doesn't mean you won't understand if I don't. This shouldn't deter you from reading the book, though.

Although some of you may find the concept of hypnosis intriguing and others may believe it was brilliant of him to employ this technique, in my opinion everything in this book was ludicrous, especially the very core of it. There were plenty of turns and twists to really keep you on the edge, but the technical writing will irritate you. So it's actually like a game that you'll let the winner take. Even if your life does not alter completely after finishing this book, you will undoubtedly continue to think about it due to how weird and absurd it is.

[Jenny Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very odd, but compelling. Sort of psychological thriller/psychological trauma with an unreliable narrator. I loved the experimental quality of it but there was a lot of suspension of disbelief and some plot holes I wasn't able to figure out.

[Stacia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Nakamura's The Gun last year. In that novel, the premise was whether or not an object can somehow push a person into fulfilling the object's purpose. Obsession & a very distanced air were also omnipresent.

Similarly, My Annihilation also has a very clinical tone. Detached. This time, Nakamura is delving into what the "self" really is & how far the brain can be manipulated (hypnosis, brainwashing, electroshock, etc.) to change that. As you enter this dark (very dark) story, you are quickly upended, not even sure who is narrating. Nakamura continues to manipulate you, the reader, about what's really happening throughout, employing a nested story construction, an unreliable narrator, & horrifying events. I've seen mentions of the movie Memento in relation to this book & I think that's a fair comparison (even though I never figured out what the heck was going on in that movie back when it first ran).

The very bleak & upsetting events, the misogyny, & the violence will not appeal to some. Trigger warnings abound. But, if you can stomach it, it's a coolly-constructed novel with multiple, usually clever, unforeseen jolts & turns. I found it quite intriguing in spite of the horrors within. You will end with questioning everything you just read. My annihilation indeed.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Sarah ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

يبدو أن هناك حدود لما يمكن أن أتقبله من طبقات القصص والشخصيات المريبة والأحداث الصادمة، - وأنا متفاجئة هنا لأني لم أعتقد أنه سيأتي اليوم الذي أقول فيه هذا.
النوفيلا بالغة القصر وربما هذا سبب تعقد خطوطها وشخصياتها فسبب محدودية المساحة لا مجال للمناورة بل ضربات متتالية، واعتمد الكاتب طريقة الراوي غير الموثوق به - مثل مقتل روجر كرويد-. ولا تدري من تصدق وحسب بل ولا حتى أنت مع أي شخصية في هذه اللحظة وهكذا حلقة مفرغة ومضللة.

[Uzma Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have to get one thing out of the way first. No matter how surprised a plot twist makes me, something about the details of SA and the like just set me off. I guess that's what trigger warnings are for but idk. Previous descriptions of such things have not made me so uncomfortable before... I guess Nakamura particularly has a knack for tapping into disgust. But this is a major reason why the book is getting four stars, and it's completely on my own volition so take that into account. Let's dive in!

This book opens with a man who is reading the journal of another man because he is trying to assume that man's identity. This journal is weird and grotesque, with descriptions of serial killers and past childhood traumas. Neither the reader nor the narrator knows what to think of it. And that's all I'm going to leave it at, folks, if you want to know more, you are simply going to have to read the rest of the novel -- a platform I'm not sure whether or not I want to support. I'll just say this: the book does not go where you think it's going. No! I don't care if you think you got it right. You don't. Decide for yourselves if you want to subject yourselves to this. There's a reason why the tagline is "Turn this page, and you may give up your entire life."

Quick notes: perhaps it's the translation from Japanese that makes some of the writing feel awkward, but who's to say. pacing is stellar, once it all comes together, it's wrapped up in the tightest little bow. also my head hurts.

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Annihilation is one twisted revenge story. You won’t be able to discern what is the truth and what is a fabrication until the very end. This is a complex story filled with some god awful people and even the protagonists aren’t necessarily the best people either. But at its heart, it is a revenge story fueled by love. And this is not a simple revenge. It is complicated and involves patience.

I have to mention some content warnings because there are a lot of fucked up things that happen in this book. There is sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. The whole book in itself is dark and depressing. This is not a light read. But, it is an absolutely gripping revenge tale. I can’t stop thinking about the story and how fucked up it all was. If you’re able to stomach the content it is well worth the read.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the setup of the novel (narrator has identity issues, reads a mysterious manuscript in an abandoned lodge). Unfortunately I'm then regaled with interminable pop psychoanalysis of a serial killer. I don't know what Nakamura's target audience is, but surely noir fans don't need to be told psychoanalysis "was a process for awakening the patient to the unconsciously repressed problems inside of them, to the root causes of their ills." It also does not help that the translation resorts occasionally to word choices like "ricketier". Sorry.

[jut · Rating 3 out of 5]

"To whoever reads these words. . .What are you feeling as you read them? I’m thankful for your time. But I’m afraid that it may be too latefor you. . .YOU’D BETTER RUN."

what is real? and what is a fabrication of someone's mind? this book made my night, my brain is about to explode! the truth and the dark secrets of this book are all intertwined, it's so complex and thrilling that you won't be able to stop! love it!

[Connor Foley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously dark mind-fuck of a book. I’m a huge fan of Nakamura but you really need to be ready to dive into the deepest recesses of the human mind when approaching some his books, this one especially. A part of me even feels like this book could be dangerous to certain readers, specifically a section where a character gets a psychoanalyst to erase his humanity so that he can perform acts of demented revenge (Nakamura has studiously researched and referenced the texts he looked at for mind control, psychology and criminal behavior) but at the same time it’s a seductive labyrinth of reality and fiction that flys by when reading. I don’t know, might up my rating at some point, but regardless another excellent novel by Fuminori Nakamura. I hope to see all of his fiction translated to english some day (great translation by Sam Bett btw)

[Connor Oswald]

a little Too i hate women for me :/

[Chandler · Rating 1 out of 5]

they should have just killed those guys and kissed each other

[Ruben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange little Japanese novel about brainwashing and memory erasing and replacing drugs and treatments. Quite the twisty story. I usually love it when it says 'puzzlebox' on the cover and indeed one should pay close attention towards the end, but I can't say I am fully convinced, even though the plot kept me interested. The author wants to make you doubt what is real, what is imagined, who is who? It is original, but it left me cold. It reminded me a bit of the movie 'Abre Los Ojos', but that was more emotionally involving.

As often in Japanese literature there is a fair bit of bullying, suppressed trauma, (sexual) violence and suicide...

[ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting. i read it in one sitting.

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pulpy noir novel that tries to sell itself as something it isn't. I finished because it was a quick read. This could have gotten a "meh" rating if this novel would have had more confidence in its plot and spent less time with sensationalism. Even so, this is one of those complicated plot does not equal good plot examples.

Things that annoyed me- the author spouting "universal truths" through his characters that are only universal truths for one, very specific part of the population, if you are a woman in this story you are going to get raped, weird obsession with serial killers and their sad, sad stories.

The book does have a bibliography of maybe 10 books. So the author did some research, mostly on said serial killers. The suspension of disbelief on the scientific end of things was just to much to swallow.

I keep seeing this book being compared to Dostoevsky and Camus and I just don't see it myself. This is a schlocky bookclub book at best.

[hi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive as hell. A poor writing style (translation? Original author? Who knows). Reading a story within a story is usually fun and surprising: this one was the complete opposite. The author was trying the best he could to make us feel uneasy but it completely flopped. He probably was also trying to disgust us with the way he writes the female characters and hooray at least one thing that worked.

[Siena · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF AT PAGE 171

Couldn’t muster the energy to care about solving the mystery. Shame that a beautiful cover was wasted on a story that thinks it’s sooooo smart and poignant and honestly just hates women.

[♡ retrovvitches ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

if you held a gun to my head i still wouldn’t be able to tell you anything that happened in this book