El lector a domicilio

by Fabio Morábito

Eduardo, el protagonista de esta novela, ha cometido un delito menor por el cual ha sido condenado a un año de trabajo comunitario, que consiste en leer novelas a domicilio a personas enfermas o jubiladas. A pesar de su seductora voz varonil es incapaz de involucrarse en los libros que lee y apenas capta el sentido de las palabras que desfilan antes sus ojos. Sus oyentes se lo reprochan y las amables visitas domiciliarias se convierten en unas situaciones conflictivas que obligarán a Eduardo a cuestionarse como individuo. Atrapado entre el tedio provinciano de una ciudad eternamente primaveral y el peligro de la criminalidad imperante, se dejará arrastrar a una serie de acontecimientos siniestros que de manera totalmente imprevista lo situarán en el meollo de esa población de ancianos.

Genres: Fiction, Books About Books, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Paul Secor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting journey with a rather abrupt ending.

Another book published by Other Press which is worthy of attention.

[Denver Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny and charming read (with a few shocking moments) about a disenfranchised 30-something who must do community service after losing his drivers license. His sentence is interesting - he is charged to read aloud to community members who request the service. And though the intention is to serve those who cannot read for themselves anymore, the reader finds himself reading to a family where the parents are deaf, but the children are not - but they are being raised to act deaf. Another couple decides to throw a lavish party around the readings done in their home. And he finds himself on the hunt for an elusive poet who may or may not have had a relationship with his father. Translated from Spanish, this is a delightful and unusual book. The author was born in Egypt to Italian parents, and has spent most of his life in Mexico City.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

HOME READING SERVICE is a Mexican novel written by Fabio Morábito and translated front the Spanish by Curtis Bauer. Eduardo lives with his father and has a live-in caretaker. After an accident, Eduardo is sentenced to a year of community service. His sister convinces a priest to let him in a program reading books aloud to the elderly and infirm. He travels to different houses every week to read from a different book, including a man who uses his twin brother as a ventriloquist dummy and a deaf family where the parents don’t know the children are hearing. Time and again his audience tells him that he has a beautiful voice but never pays attention to what he’s reading.

I found this book on the staff picks wall at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park. I was intrigued by the idea of a guy who goes to homes and reads books aloud. Even though that is part of it, a lot happens in this book. For me it was hard to keep track of all of the characters. There were so many. I liked Eduardo and I thought he was a good person in a tough situation taking care of his father, running the family business, dealing with gangsters. The plot didn’t absorb me but I read this small book fairly quickly. The ending of the book was wild and fast paced where I wanted to find out what happens. I’m glad I read the book.▪️

[Juan Carlos Pascual - TOC Libros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es lo primero que leo de Morábito y me ha gustado.
Eduardo, tras cometer un pequeño delito, es condenado a realizar trabajos comunitarios consistentes en leer a domicilio a personas discapacitadas o jubiladas.
Además trabaja en la mueblería familiar.
Sin duda lo que más me ha atraído de esta novela son esos ratos que Eduardo pasa en las casas de las personas a las que lee, cómo se relaciona con ellos de mejor o peor manera, y las pequeñas historias que de ahí surgen.
También el 'misterio' de intentar averiguar qué tipo de relación tuvo el padre de Eduardo con la poeta Isabel Freire (cuyo fantástico poema 'Tu piel' es un leitmotiv de esta novela).
Hay que decir que el resto de subtramas siempre terminan interconectadas con todo lo que le va sucediendo a Eduardo, para que él mismo intente entender su propio comportamiento.
En el debe de este libro estaría la resolución, un final un tanto rocambolesco que no me terminó de gustar y que me dejó una sensación algo extraña hacia al resto del texto.

En definitiva, una novela agradable que se lee muy fácil y resulta bastante amena, aunque flojea en su parte final en mi modesta opinión.

[Paco Serrano · Rating 5 out of 5]

En la decadente y violenta Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera, Eduardo se ve envuelto en un accidente automovilístico que lo lleva a pagar una pequeña condena leyendo libros a domicilio a gente inscrita en el programa, que va desde un militar retirado, una familia de sordomudos, una mujer en silla de ruedas, dos hermanos medio locos y una familia en apariencia acaudalada. En su apática búsqueda de los libros que deberá leer en su servicio comunitario, el protagonista encuentra en las pertenencias de su padre enfermo un bello poema que termina por encauzar la historia de esta gran novela.

[Milly Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Está padre, comienza siendo un poco más serio y termina siendo una comedia total.
Entretenido y divertido, con un mensaje de reflexión de menos de 10 palabras, que me late, porque no alecciona, sólo recuerda que uno debe ser quién es, no mather what.
Me gusta que el contexto sea México y que se haya escrito en español.

[David Dunlap · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the aftermath of a serious accident (the details of which we are never told), Eduardo (the narrator of the story) has had his driver's license suspended indefinitely and must complete hours of community service. He has made arrangements with Father Clark, his sister Ofelia's confessor, to visit homes of the elderly and infirm to read to them for ½ hour or so each visit -- the book to be read is left up to the clients. But, while he may read well enough (in a 'manly voice,' we are told on a number of occasions), Eduardo pays no attention to what it is he is reading...a fact that is pointed out to him (and Father Clark) by several of the families he visits. -- This book was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages, but not enough to engage *my* entire interest, ironically enough. I kept waiting for something to Happen: when it does, it was too little too late and told in such an impressionistic way that the reader is left wondering what, exactly, transpired. (I'd pass on this one!)

[Sngsweelian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book grew on me, especially from Part II onwards, as the various characters slowly began to reveal themselves in greater depths. I didnt expect to enjoy this book so much but surprisingly I began to feel for Eduardo, the main protagonist and his frustrations with the people he had to read to. Glad I picked up this book from the library!

[Penélope Albornoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustó

La literatura latinoamericana tiene, a mi parecer, esa cualidad de que las obras son tan cotidianas que nos interpelan a todes de diferentes maneras.
Esta novela tiene un argumento simple pero les personajes son interesantes, especialmente les secundarixs, y las historias que suceden cuando se relacionan con Eduardo, el protagonista, también son muy buenas.

No me gustó que quedaran tantos hilos sueltos, sin resolver; de algunos nos suelta pistas dejando que les lectores determinemos qué sucedió como mejor nos parezca, pero otros (como qué crimen cometió Eduardo) quedan en misterio.

La resolución me pareció precipitada y un poco inverosímil, pero no fuera del estilo de la novela en general.

El final me emocionó.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5, probably. Quiet, elliptical story of a middling-aged man breaking out of a rut by being conscripted as someone who reads aloud to people in his small Mexican town as a punishment. He interacts with locals, deals with an old friend who is in charge of the protection racket in town, accidentally reignites the town's passions about a famous poet, and then kind of returns to his life. Interesting story about lives in the margins and what happens there and why.

[Loredelcarmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro que me atrapó de principio a fin, me gustó mucho la historia, en ningún momento me pareció aburrido, más bien quería avanzar más con la lectura. Me encantó el personaje principal, un libro muy bien escrito.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absurd, petty, with deeply flawed and annoying characters, set in a mundane world. I absolutely loved it.

You know those TV shows where you just want to shake the characters because they're so unreasonable. Well this is like that, except things keep escalating in absurd and hilarious ways. About a quarter way through the book, I finally understood what it was all about, and just laid back to enjoy the show unfold.

I love his (or his translator's) writing style. It's cutting, but very direct. It reads like an amalgamation of several connected short stories all woven together. All of the characters in the book have big personalities, and they're fun to follow around. I especially love how he gets angry or worried and obsessed about the tiniest things (like a random poeta), but having the cartel blackmail him for protection money is just business as usual and he doesn't bat an eye at it.

(Read on a night bus to Uyuni, I blinked and it was 3:30am when the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere for a natural baño break)

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro resultó ser de esas sorpresas inesperadas que te topas de vez en cuando.
Eduardo, el protagonista, gracias a un delito que cometió (que por cierto, nunca nos dicen a ciencia cierta qué hizo..) tiene que hacer un servicio comunitario: leer a domicilio a personas que no pueden hacerlo: los Jiménez, una familia de sordos, una anciana paralítica, etc.
Peeeero el detalle es que Eduardo es un mal lector, de esos que leen por leer y no disfrutan ni viven la lectura. De hecho, uno de sus "clientes" le dice: “Usted no se fija en lo que lee, viene a nuestra casa, se sienta en el sillón, saca el libro y lee sin entender nada...”
De ahí poco a poco vemos el desarrollo de el protagonista en el gusto de la lectura.
Me gustó el desarrollo del libro, muy ameno; el detalle aquí es que casi rumbo al final va a menos quedando un final medio flojo.

[Juan Carlos López Domínguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gustó la trama: una persona cuya sanción por infringir la ley consiste en ir a leer a extraños. ¡Se me antojó un trabajo así! Eduardo, el protagonista, se ve implicado en la vida rara y peculiar de sus oyentes. Mientras se ve envuelto en la vida de otras personas, él reflexiona sobre su propia vida. Pelea con muchos y ama a otros. El desenlace lo detona el derrumbe de un librero en una velada de poesía. El desenlace de la novela es caótico y sorpresivo. Su papá y la mujer que lo atrae son asesinados accidentalmente y a partir de este evento, tiene que cambiar su propia vida y circunstancias. Aunque ya no tiene obligación de leer a extraños, él elige seguir leyendo a una familia de sordos.
Me gustó que el autor no intentara una moraleja, las cosas simplemente sucedieron de esa forma.

[Estela Peña Molatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha sucedido, con más frecuencia de la que quisiera admitir, que cuando algo se interpone en la lectura de una novela y debo dejarla de lado por algunos días o semanas, cuando la retomo me cuesta trabajo recordar, si no toda la trama, al menos algunos personajes o ciertos detalles de la historia. Fue una gratísima sorpresa descubrir que, tras una larga pausa, cuando reabrí estas páginas me acordaba de todo y de todos. En su sencillez, esta divertida historia da cuenta de una finísima manufactura.
Me encantó este primer acercamiento a la literatura de Fabio Morábito.

[Ragne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautiful meandering narrative was very helpful for the autumn 2024 blues... The narrator is such a sweet loser who keeps commenting on what he says to other people: "That was a lie". The book is funny and sad, and has an amazing poem by Isabel Freire at the center of it. Loved it.

[Bill Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more, but the novel’s sad sack protagonist/narrator doesn’t evoke much sympathy, and the ending spins out of control just a bit. There are some clever lines and a cast of quirky characters, so it kept my interest…but I don’t think I’ll remember much about it after too long.

[Wally Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

We never learn exactly why Edwardo lost his driver’s license and was sentenced to a year of community service (there was an accident) but thanks to his sister’s confessor who knew the mayor personally he was assigned to reading books to the elderly and the infirm in their homes rather than scrubbing toilets in some hospital or prison.

Eduardo, unmarried, in his early thirties, lives with his dying father in Cuernavaca, the “City of Eternal Spring,” fifty miles south of Mexico City. His has mother died seven years earlier, and Celeste, a faithful caregiver, an important character in the novel, is the only person who can communicate with Papá.

Edwardo’s family has owned and operates a small furniture store with one employee, so Edwardo is free to drink coffee in the middle of the work day. The story pay protection money to an ex-employee, Güero, picks up the cash while a more senior member of the gang stays watches guard outside. The criminality sounds so pervasive and established in the society that going to the police would mean only that your business would be burned out.

Edwardo is required to read for an hour a week to a rich cast of characters: a retired Colonel who loves the readings, even though he’s only awake for a few pages; a deaf family who reads Edwardo’s lips not realizing their children can hear; a pair of brothers who pull bizarre pranks; and a stunning, wheelchair-bound opera singer with an aggressively flirty housekeeper.

The book jacket tells us that the author, Fabio Morábito is a writer, translator, and professor. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Italy, and relocated to Mexico when he was fifteen. He has published four books of poetry, four short-story collections, a book of essays, and two novels. He has translated into Spanish the work of many great Italian poets of the twentieth century, including Eugenio Montale and Patrizia Cavalli. Morábito has been awarded numerous prizes including Mexico’s highest literary award, the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, for Home Reading Service. He lives in Mexico City.

The translator, Curtis Bauer, is a poet and translator of prose and poetry from Spanish. He received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant and a Banff International Literary Translation Centre fellowship. He teaches creative writing and comparative literature at Texas Tech University. The translation here is smooth and engaging and I was particularly taken by Bauer’s translation of a poem by Isabel Fraire, a Mexican poet who died in 2015, a poem that plays a key role in Edwardo’s growth.

Although he reads great (or not so great) literature to the elderly and the disabled, Edwardo does not listen to a word he reads. But when he comes across a Fraire poem that his father, now dying of cancer, had once copied out, it affects him as no literature has affected him before: “Your skin, like sheets of sand, and sheets of water swirling/your skin, with its louring mandolin brilliance . . .” (The book includes the Spanish original as an appendix.) In sharing the poem, Edwardo is astonished at what the words are capable of bringing out in others.

Complications ensue. Edwardo, a man who’s spent most of his thirty-four-plus years on earth simply allowing things to happen to him, has to cope with a dying father, a dying retail furniture business, and the demands of the people to whom he must read for an hour a week or find himself scrubbing toilets. And, of course, there’s the “protection” he’s paying and the gangsters behind it.

Home Reading Service is a fascinating picture of contemporary middle-class (?) Mexican life. Without knowing better, I accept Morábito’s picture of how things work. That a man can be sentenced to a year of community service and that the service be to read for an hour a week to a variety of shut-ins. Moreover, that the act of reading and being read to can change your life. An interesting and satisfying book.

[Reneesarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The central idea of this book, that the main character, Eduardo, has been sentenced to serve as a home reader in a home reading service is an entertaining one. Apparently he had been in some kind of car accident, in which we are to assume he has some fault, because he has been sentenced by the court. He is grateful that he has not been sentenced to clean toilets in a prison. The people he reads to are interesting characters, although they often annoy him. He supervises the family business, a furniture shop. This takes almost no effort on his part. The furniture shop is being extorted for protection money.

It is his relationship with women, and how he thinks about them, that I find really annoying. On page 71 he says, "I've always liked tall women. They're more sensitive and loyal than shorter women, and if they're ugly, they aren't completely ugly because their height helps with their shortcomings." And so it is revealed that the main character, whom we are supposed to care about, is sexist, tends to see women as objects and is stupid.

On page 173 he talks about having become excited by seeing a naked woman, "...remembering her prominent ass, with just the right amount of cellulite that I like so much and that makes an ass appear to have been touched by many hands." I do not like this guy. I most assuredly do not.

There is much made of a poet named Isabel Fraire. One of her poems is quoted repeatedly in the book. A couple of her poems, In Spanish, are shared at the end of the book. That was generous. Fraire was a well known Mexican poet and died in 2015. Her web page can be found online.

Disappointed that the main character turns out to be stupid and sexist, I hoped for some positive traits to endear him to me as a reader, but I didn't find any. His relationship with his father is sad. When he reads during his work as a home reader, he is so detached from what he is doing that he is not understanding what he reads as he reads it. Finally he wakes up a bit reading one of Fraire's poems.

The author won Mexico's highest literary award for this book.

[Stephanie Poole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really disappointed in this book. I loved what the premise promised. A man working off community service by doing at home readings for elderly and disabled individuals. But that is hardly the main topic. There is no discussion on what was read the only thing they say after his readings is how he doesn’t understand what he reads, that he zones out. I had no connection or love for the main character Eduardo. He offends almost every person he reads to. In his head he refers to one of the listeners as a dimwit. He steals money from one old man. He purposely covers his mouth while reading to a dead family. And calls a maid stupid because she’s always smiling. He considers SAing said maid because he thinks the owner of the house is implying he should sleep with the maid since the owner of the house is in a wheelchair and “can’t give herself to him”. He makes all these wild assumptions about what people are implying and I was just like “how did you get that from that”?? He also kisses a child on the cheek under a table 3 separate times within like 3 minutes one of the kisses while he has a boner from looking at the kids moms cellulite I mean like Blech (not Blech at the cellulite Blech at the dude for being a fucking creep)🤮 this dude sucks. He reads one poem and then starts acting like he’s the end all be all knowledge of this poet that he’s only read like 3 poems of.. I just.. the more I’m writing about it the more I dislike it. I thought it would be like a book about books or that has discussions on classic literature, or even just a young guy connecting to an older generation through written word, maybe some sharing of old people wisdom. No. it was not that at all. I hate I hated it but thems the facts.

[Paola · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 quizá

Al inicio me estaba encantando, pero solo decayó

Hay algo que me gustó: menciona que su madre se había enamorado de una trinchera, pero al ver que había sido hecha a producción ya no la quiso.
Y pienso que a lo mejor nos enamoramos de las personas, porque cada una es única, no están hechas a producción. Y al ver que algunas son tan parecidas, ya no nos atraen tanto.

[Paulina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past week I was supposed to be on a trip to Mexico which, for multiple reasons, had to be cancelled. Then I picked up Home Reading Service, which came as part of my Asymptote Book Club subscription and well, it was like a small visit to Mexico in its own way.

Home Reading Service is set in the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos. A city said to be the City of Eternal Spring, one where a lot of people go to vacation from the big city. We follow Eduardo, a 34-year-old man who recently was charged with reckless driving and sentenced to community service where he has to go and read to elderly and disabled people. His father is dying of cancer, his sister is heavily involved with the church, and he basically feels like he has no idea what he's doing with his life.

Eduardo is faced with the struggle of connecting with the books he's reading as well as the people around him. He lives in his own little world, imagining what people think instead of having meaningful conversations with them.

My favorite part of this book was Eduardo's discovery of poetry. We get a poem by Isabel Fraire that touches Eduardo in a way none of the books he's reading so far have done. There's also a connection to his father and the other people around him that he's trying to piece together (without really talking to anyone of course).

At times the book seemed to not really have much going on but when everything came together mid-book it was really eye-opening. How often do we walk around not really connecting to the people around us? Going through our Mondays to Fridays and not appreciating those little things that happen each day? If anything, this book reminded me to appreciate more of those conversations with friends and family. To cherish a book, a poem, a song, and experience it fully.

I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a seemingly easy book to read, with humor and quirky characters that packs a punch with the message in the end. Also, if you want to try a bit of poetry without committing to a whole book of poetry, this might be for you.

[Oswaldo Alonso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este ha sido el tercer libro que leo de Fabio Morábito, un autor que descubrí este año y que se ha convertido en uno de mis favoritos. Si se quiere iniciar en su obra, recomiendo ampliamente _El idioma materno_, un libro de relatos y textos breves que, precisamente por su brevedad, refleja el trabajo de reflexión y escritura de este escritor mexicano.
_El lector a domicilio_ es una historia que se sitúa en La Ciudad de La Eterna Primavera, la cual "no tiene alma, sino albercas"; en ella, se despliegan los intereses que atraviesan la poética de Morábito y que son parte importante de su quehacer como escritor: La poesía, en primer lugar, funge como eje principal. En segundo lugar, hay una cuestión con los sentidos, ya que no es lo mismo oír que escuchar, no es lo mismo ver que mirar.
Esta novela cuenta la historia de Eduardo, quien después de cierto incidente funge como lector a domicilio como parte del servicio comunitario que le sentencia un juez. A través de estas visitas, podemos enterarnos de la historia que hay detrás de la vida del propio protagonista, al igual que de cierta realidad social que prevalece en esta ciudad desde hace mucho, y que es tratada de manera velada, como por ejemplo el narcotráfico, las extorciones, la corrupción.
De esta lectura agradezco el descubrimiento de la poeta mexicana Isabel Fraire.

[jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

mexican writer fabio morábito (born in egypt to an italian family) was awarded the 2018 xavier villaurrutia award for home reading service (el lector a domicilio), a charming novel about a man sentenced to community service following a car accident. eduardo's punishment, given a local connection he has, keeps him from scrubbing toilets in the nearby hospital and instead allows him to read novels and poetry to the area's aged and infirm. while eduardo's interest in his reading material (and subsequent oration therof) is best described as lackluster, he nonetheless makes a strong impression on each of his listeners (and the few lip-readers), though not always favorably. set in a town with increasing crime, as well as protection rackets, home reading service has a few subplots which enliven the story's narrative. morábito's tale is a humorous, lively, enjoyable one, told in first-person perspective and concluding most unexpectedly.

"for goodness' sake, i've never met anyone like you, eduardo. when you read out loud you don't understand what you are reading, and when you see a title you skip it.

*translated from the spanish by curtis bauer (jeannette clariond, luis muñoz, et al.)

[sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazingly beautiful. so closely parallel to the real experience of life.

in real life no one tells you what should make you sad, what should elicit emotion. home reading service is like that. no proclamations of explicit emotion. the reader is left to extrapolate the emotion themselves, and it makes for a wonderful and unique reading.

the story is advanced by the passage of time rather than major events, which reminds me a bit of how The Stranger is written. day after day passes, and the protagonist gets up, eats breakfast, goes to work, etc, and the story advances as he encounters meaningful events. this is also so closely aligned with how real life feels which i love.

the characters are all rich. the plot is able to introduce these little vignettes of different families, people, and relationships. but it never feels short-story-ish or like there’s harsh divides between each household. they merge with the protagonist’s own life.

although written in a very emotionally understated way, this book is brimming with feeling. the desire to connect. to understand. to communicate. to be understood. to love :)

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eduardo has been sentenced to a year of community service following an unspecified "accident" and is able to serve this by taking part in the community reading service to elderly or disabled people, each of whom have a different backstory. The story is set in a once-peaceful and prosperous town in Mexico, which is now suffering from gang violence and robberies. Eduardo ostensibly works at his sick, elderly father's furniture shop, which is actually run by a paid employee Jaime. He struggles to engage with the books he reads to his clients and seems to be unfulfilled and bored with life until he comes across some poetry, loved by his elderly ailing father. Eduardo is a self-absorbed and unlikeable character, although he does eventually gain some insight. Although I thought this is an interesting premise for a novel to explore, it did not have a sense of dramatic tension for me and Eduardo an annoying, self-centred character. 2.5% rounded up

[Grayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read! Has that mixture of slice of life, intense situational irony/situational comedy, and a tiny dab of magical realism that I often enjoy in Latin American literature. The pacing was just a little faster than I expected and I think a tad too fast overall - the degree to which the situation escalates, especially in the second half of the book, left me with a lot of emotional whiplash rather than being fully pulled in, and there were so many threads of interpersonal drama in such a short span that it was a bit tough to keep track of. But I think that also makes sense with Eduardo's perspective, especially the growing realization that he's always a bit disconnected and two steps behind everyone else (relatable), and lends itself to the overall theme of disability and end of life care, life, and the meaning of a life lived in the context of disability/aging.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

These days I usually read books that I've heard about on booktube or social media or recommended to me by friends. It's very rare that I'll walk into a physical bookshop and take home a book I've never heard of before. But that's what happened with Home Reading Service and I'm so glad I did. The premise sounded right up my alley - any books about books or reading have me instantly intrigued. I was also interested in reading it being a translated book and one that was set in Mexico. This did not disappoint.

When I started reading I couldn't even tell you what compelled me to keep picking it up (I read it over two days), but something about the cadence of writing, the characters, the city kept bringing me back for more.

Can't find any fault with it :)

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, Green Apple Book's "Apple of the Month" club sent me a really enjoyable novel. Set in a small Mexican town, the protagonist is required to read to people in their homes as part of his community service sentence for an "incident". There's a ton going on in this fairly short novel - the reader's father is slowly dying from cancer, his family's furniture store is forced to pay protection money to a gangster and his listeners are an odd bunch. There's a wheelchair bound diva, a family pretending to be deaf and a lecherous army officer (retired). I couldn't really say what it was "about", but I really enjoyed being immersed in this book, its characters and its setting.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟💫

I was intrigued by the premise of the story.

I followed through relatively smoothly but there were parts where the translation felt forced and made me feel like I hit a curb when reading.

I have to admit, some of my favourite translators are the ones who translate Japanese text. The fluidity of the story shines through as does the cultural elements.

I have to say though I am not sure if it was the author per se or the translator, but there is a character in the book who the author refers to repeatedly as being ugly. Then he says that her daughter is as ugly as she is.

MMMMEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW