Julie

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Julie is Currently Reading

Julie is currently reading

The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5)

by Matt Dinniman (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 04, 2026 04:28PM

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Japanese Gothic

by Kylie Lee Baker (Goodreads Author)

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Julie said: " I judged this book by its cover, or really the title. I enjoy Japanese literature and love gothic horror. Ultimately it wasn’t really either of those things. This wasn’t a translation. It was written in English by an American author of partial Okinaw I judged this book by its cover, or really the title. I enjoy Japanese literature and love gothic horror. Ultimately it wasn’t really either of those things. This wasn’t a translation. It was written in English by an American author of partial Okinawan ancestry. I read half the book before researching the author’s background, but eventually I wanted to know whether to read this from the perspective of a Japanese author or not. I read and truly enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha, which is written by a white American man. Admittedly, I was actually surprised because the literary style of Geisha, at least in English, does mimic Japanese literary prose. I didn’t feel, though, that Japanese Gothic had a Japanese literary style, which I’ve only experienced in English translation and could easily be wrong, but the book was written in English by an American author and lacked the lyrical beauty of Japanese literature.

I have, though, read a lot of gothic fiction, mostly written in English with primarily Anglo characters, and this novel didn’t quite adhere to that style, either. Certainly there are strong elements of madness and a heavy does of mysticism, but it leans more heavily into a time travel narrative for most of the book. To me, what ultimately confirmed the novel’s place in gothic fiction was the unrelenting theme of loneliness and isolation that two characters felt more than a century apart. Whatever forces drew them together across time as residents of the same house found their power in the depths of loneliness felt by both and the horrors each survives and enacts as a result of that loneliness.

From a historical perspective, this book had me Googling the question “Were there women Samurai” to very satisfying results. So, I am grateful for the history lesson. As someone who loves the ocean, I also really enjoyed the frequent references to the sea and the mystical allusions involving sea turtles. I would ultimately categorize the novel more as mystical realism than gothic, but either way I rate it as worth reading. ...more "

3 hours, 47 min ago · see review