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世界は終わらない
書店員の土田新二・32歳は、後輩から「出世したところで給料、変わんないッスよ」と突っ込まれながらも、今日もコツコツ働く。どうやったら絵本コーナーが充実するかな? 無人島に持って行く一冊って?1Kの自宅と職場を満員電車で行き来しながら、仕事、結婚、将来、一回きりの人生の幸せについて考えを巡らせる。ベストセラー四コマ漫画。
191 pages, Paperback
Published August 5, 2015
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 7, 2019
3.5 stars
I love Masuda's comic (as in four panel comic strip) essays so picking up this book, a fictional tale told in the same format, felt like the next logical step.
Masuda's fiction feels surprisingly similar to her essays in tone. Tsuchida is a long-time employee at a bookstore. He's 32, hasn't been on a date in six years, and wonders if this is all he can expect from life. He contemplates his situation as he helps customers, goes out to lunch with coworkers, visits his uncle in the hospital.
...which is to say there's very little plot. And that's fine. We're not here for the plot. The charm is in the characters' insights and the oh-so-relatable situations they find themselves in. For example, one character asks another what picture books they read as a child, and he can't think of any. At which point I tried to remember what picture books I read as a child... and couldn't think of any. ~sweatdrop~ There are references to famous books along the way, and they're all pictured at the back with publisher information for easy reference.
I read the book slowly, a scene or two each day. I liked having it on my end table, always ready to fill a dull moment or help me relax before bed. It felt like a high three star book until the two "extra" scenes at the end pushed it up to 3.5. I'm so happy that I get along with Masuda's fiction as well as I do with her essays, and I'm even more excited to dig into her backlist now. Maybe not the best place to start with Masuda, but lovely all the same.
I love Masuda's comic (as in four panel comic strip) essays so picking up this book, a fictional tale told in the same format, felt like the next logical step.
Masuda's fiction feels surprisingly similar to her essays in tone. Tsuchida is a long-time employee at a bookstore. He's 32, hasn't been on a date in six years, and wonders if this is all he can expect from life. He contemplates his situation as he helps customers, goes out to lunch with coworkers, visits his uncle in the hospital.
...which is to say there's very little plot. And that's fine. We're not here for the plot. The charm is in the characters' insights and the oh-so-relatable situations they find themselves in. For example, one character asks another what picture books they read as a child, and he can't think of any. At which point I tried to remember what picture books I read as a child... and couldn't think of any. ~sweatdrop~ There are references to famous books along the way, and they're all pictured at the back with publisher information for easy reference.
I read the book slowly, a scene or two each day. I liked having it on my end table, always ready to fill a dull moment or help me relax before bed. It felt like a high three star book until the two "extra" scenes at the end pushed it up to 3.5. I'm so happy that I get along with Masuda's fiction as well as I do with her essays, and I'm even more excited to dig into her backlist now. Maybe not the best place to start with Masuda, but lovely all the same.
Displaying 1 of 1 review