Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ravensandpages 's review for:
Those Snow White Notes Vol. 1
by Marimo Ragawa
reflective
medium-paced
*Digital ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Those Snow White Notes follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Setsu, who loses his creative spark for his chosen instrument, the shamisen, after his grandfather passes away. He moves to Tokyo from the countryside in order to find it again, and his paths cross with an aspiring actress, Yuna, who's working part-time as a hostess. This was originally published in a magazine as a one-shot, which probably explains the incoherence of everything past the first 125 pages.
I had actually considered DNFing soon after I finished the first chapter, Track 0, but I was so close I decided I might as well finish... which kind of just gave me more reasons why I didn't vibe with this book. The tone switched from dark, slow sequences of emotion and sadness to wild, over-the-top humor wildly, and I couldn't tell whether or not the story was taking itself seriously. It was strange to have moments where Setsu reflected on his inspiration or his grandfather near really weird exchanges, like the part where Umeko did a weird BDSM punishment on her nineteen-year-old son, which left a strange taste in my mouth. I understand that she was purposefully portrayed as a bad mother, but she constantly made her sons uncomfortable with no consequences and her whole character bothered me since she was made out to be a joke character. In a story that's supposed to be humorous and not serious, I can understand her character, but since I was taking Those Snow White Notes seriously she seemed really out of place and borderline abusive.
Like Umeko, Yuna's boyfriend was a character that deeply bothered me. He was horrible and seemed to bounce back after Track 0 with no repercussions. Honestly, so much of what bothered me about the story came after the original one-shot, so it probably just didn't need a continuation. I certainly won't be continuing with the series, though I thank the publishers for the ARC.
Those Snow White Notes follows a sixteen-year-old boy, Setsu, who loses his creative spark for his chosen instrument, the shamisen, after his grandfather passes away. He moves to Tokyo from the countryside in order to find it again, and his paths cross with an aspiring actress, Yuna, who's working part-time as a hostess. This was originally published in a magazine as a one-shot, which probably explains the incoherence of everything past the first 125 pages.
I had actually considered DNFing soon after I finished the first chapter, Track 0, but I was so close I decided I might as well finish... which kind of just gave me more reasons why I didn't vibe with this book. The tone switched from dark, slow sequences of emotion and sadness to wild, over-the-top humor wildly, and I couldn't tell whether or not the story was taking itself seriously. It was strange to have moments where Setsu reflected on his inspiration or his grandfather near really weird exchanges, like the part where Umeko did a weird BDSM punishment on her nineteen-year-old son, which left a strange taste in my mouth. I understand that she was purposefully portrayed as a bad mother, but she constantly made her sons uncomfortable with no consequences and her whole character bothered me since she was made out to be a joke character. In a story that's supposed to be humorous and not serious, I can understand her character, but since I was taking Those Snow White Notes seriously she seemed really out of place and borderline abusive.
Like Umeko, Yuna's boyfriend was a character that deeply bothered me. He was horrible and seemed to bounce back after Track 0 with no repercussions. Honestly, so much of what bothered me about the story came after the original one-shot, so it probably just didn't need a continuation. I certainly won't be continuing with the series, though I thank the publishers for the ARC.