sspaghettiboness's Reviews (138)

To date, the most influential and tragically inspiring thing I have ever read. 

This book made me change my minor in the middle of getting my degree from psychology to philosophy; it’s the first book I have ever highlighted and dog eared pages in. 

It’s the most compelling and eye-opening thing I’ve ever come across. 

I loved everything about this book. There were moments with almost every character that I felt deeply connected to them and the way they felt. 

Not being from Japan but reading primarily Japanese authors, I have a big map of Japan that I pull out when I read books that focus a lot on location and scenery to understand and get more context. Still, the opening of this book, and many chapters, felt like they just spent too much time describing places to an extent they didn’t need to be. The opening was needlessly dry, I tried the book months ago and couldn’t get into it for that reason. That’s what knocked it down from 5 stars for me. It was just too much and unnecessary to the plot. 

I’ve been in a reading slump since the start of the new year, and this novel reminded me of how thrilling it feels to be immersed in writing. The pacing is absolute perfection, truly never a wasted sentence or boring page.

I read a lot of horror. I’ve read a lot of disgusting splatter punk books that made me physically ill (I read The Slob on the bathroom floor in front of the porcelain throne). This book scared the absolute hell out of me. I went in blind, did not read the back cover or synopsis, and surely that added to the disorienting experience because I related more to the main character than if I’d known. The premise and setting of the book, to me seemed disgustingly real in a good and bad way. 

This book makes such clever utilisation of the structure of a 3rd person narrator. There was just enough foreshadowing so that plot twists didn’t feel like they’d been plucked from thin air, but they remained page gripping plot twists all the same.

The absolute best thing, though: in a horror/thriller/sci-fi novel, I think there’s always a moment where you want to walk away or reach through the paper and say, “what the f—- are you doing?” As a character makes a stupid mistake. None of that is to be found here. The choices made by all of the characters felt exceedingly realistic. I think that is what makes this book so terrifying. 

I was going to give The Dangers of Smoking In Bed 2.75 stars, but, the last 3 stories made me change my mind. It is, by no means, poorly written. If you’re looking for writing inspiration or struggling with sensory descriptions, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Smells are written impeccably, I’ve never read a book that so accurately and unusually portrayed odours. 

My issue was that some stories really dragged, but some were really strong. I guess I just expected more horror or violence, I wished so often that the characters interacted stronger with their conflicts instead of being so passive. Many of the narrators simply watched the people around them truly experience something, which is great. To an extent. For something written by   a feminist viewpoint - I think - I wanted a piece of two of raw firsthand feminine rage, and I was left unsatisfied. 

 I was reminded of Eric LaRocca, who I think struggles with the same thing in his short story collections, too. As a whole, this novel has truly great moments and weak moments. I just, so badly, wanted more from many of the narrators, even in the short stories I genuinely liked.