A deep and emotional read.
This book looks at both grief and healing. It looks at how different people and cultures handle this differently.
A must read book

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

What I love about this story is that the wind phone actually exists and people still use it today, which really helps to pique the imagination. The story follows a young woman, Yui, who lost her daughter and her mother in the 2011 tsunami. Yui works at a radio station where many callers share their own personal tragedies and stories of lost loved ones from the same tsunami and their coping mechanisms for moving on with life. One listener says that she goes to a phone booth on a hill in the middle of nowhere and talks to her lost loved one. Even though the phone is connected it helps her to feel connected to her loved one by having the normal conversations through the phone that she would have had in real life had they still been here. Throughout the story Yui develops a friendship over their shared grief with a man, Takeshi, and his daughter, who lost their wife/mother in the tsunami, and so the story develops into a healing process over time.

The story is so beautifully and delicately written.

The phone box at the edge of the world is a majestic piece of prose. Laura Imai Messina’s writing and Yuriri Naka’s narration perfectly complimented one another. I particularly liked the simplicity of the story telling, it was very delicate and handled the subject of trauma, grief and loss not only compassionately but very deftly.
Yui’s journey and those she meets along the way is relatable to so many as this is based on true events, it is also uniquely written. I particularly liked the precise lists and details that ended each short chapter. A wondrous book which when listened in audio was a balm for the soul. I could picture every scene so delicately and thoughtful played out. Have already been recommending to friends and family.

When Yui loses her mother and daughter in a terrible natural disaster that strikes Japan, she feels lost and confused. She hears about a special phone box in a country village which people use to talk to their dead loved ones, and she travels there, striking up a friendship with Takeshi who lost his wife.

This is a very quiet, sweet novel that showcases the powerful human ability of moving on despite tremendous heartbreak and continuing to find the lovely things in life. I listened to this on audiobook and it was a lovely, relaxing read. Despite the very sad moments in this when we learn about the extent of Yui's loss, as well as Takeshi's and Hannah's and numerous other characters who come in and out of the story, it remained fairly light-hearted.

A slow burn, if that’s what you like then pick it up. A little too slow for me. But quite interestingly reflectively.

Such an emotional and heart rendering story. I think this is one that will stay with me quite some time. A beautiful story written extremely well

This is a lovely, gentle, poignant tale. It shows how, even when faced with loss we have to allow ourselves to live and to love again.

A very quick read but felt it lost it’s way a little during the last part of the book. Loved the alternating chapters but found myself losing interest a little as the book went on.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World was beautifully written. It dealt with the impact of the 2011 tsunami on the Japanese people and it felt very appropriate for these times. The story revolves around a radio station presenter, Yui, who lost her mother and daughter in the tsunami. A listener calls into Yui's show and tells her about a phone box that is disconnected but people use to speak with their dead loved ones. The wind carries away the voice of the caller.

Yui then undertakes a pilgrimage to the phone box, along the way she meets a grieving husband and his daughter.

While it isn't exactly heavy on plot, it is a very gentle read that deals with very big issues of grief and change.

I feel a bit guilty that I didn't enjoy this as much as I feel I ought to have.

The pivot of the story is the 2011 tsunami in Japan and the grief from the appalling loss of life is what does a lot of the heavy lifting. The author writes articulately and with poignancy and compassion in that regard. No problem there.

It's very well written with depth and empathy and unusually, the translation is extremely competent. It's a shame, however, that neither the translator nor the editor know the difference between 'less' and 'few'. Ah well, it was the only blip.

It's sad but heart-warming and really quite charming in some ways. Alas, I got a bit…bored with the two main characters, Yui and Takeshi, both of whom are mourning the deaths of their loved ones, who meet at the site of the disused phone box. I just couldn't drum up interest in the pair's journey to recovery or in the development of their relationship.

It wasn't a book I was in a rush to pick up and finish, but I'm not a DNF person. I was rather miffed to find a glossary at the end: all those Japanese words and phrases explained. It would have been much more useful to either have them at the beginning, or at least refer to their location at the start.

A different read. Just a bit so-so.

The Phone Box At The Edge Of The World by Laura Imai Messina is a stunningly beautiful book about grief and love and life. Whilst it is a novel, it has its roots in reality as it is based on the actual phone box at Bell Gardia in Japan.
There is nothing magical about the phone box but it does have healing properties for those who go there. Those who are grief stricken, pick up the phone, talk into it, and the wind carries their messages of hope.
In Bell Gardia faith and hope are alive. People believe there must be more to life than what we can see, feel and hear. In Bell Gardia guilt and fears are put aside as love and hope arise. “When we go up that hill to Suzuki san’s garden, we’re trying to get our shadows back.” People are trying to grab hold of their pasts and bring back hope to their shattered lives.
Many people make the journey to Bell Gardia – those who have lost parents, children, loved ones. “We’re still parents even when our children are no longer here.” As they release their voices to the wind, they are believing they will be heard.
The whole book is about love. “Time may pass, but the memory of the people we’ve loved doesn’t grow old.” Love comes in many forms. When we lose our loved ones, we feel lost too. Over time we will be ‘found’ as we learn to live again in spite of our grief.
The characters were wonderfully and realistically drawn. The reader is instantly attracted to the gentle natures of the lead characters. I found them easy to picture in my head.
There is an ethereal beauty to the story. I am sad that it has ended but I feel surrounded by love after having journeyed from the valley of despair to the mountaintop of hope.
I received a free copy via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

This book was magical beyond belief! It made me think about all of those that I have lost in the past and all of the beautiful lyrical prose spoke to me as if it was them. I couldn’t recommend this story enough.

A beautiful premise but I, unfortunately, didn't connect with the characters or story. This is based on a real story and I think other readers will find it a much more rewarding read than I did.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is a very interesting story that has all the ingredients to really capture you as a reader. The concept, based in a real place, is unique and completely unexpected. The characters are very complex and evolve with the story. And the setting is full of secrets and has a kind of magic that is difficult to understand unless, I imagine, you have gone through something similar as the characters. This is a literary novel, every page, every line, every word has a meaning and is there to make you stop and think. And this is maybe why I didn't connect to the story as much as I would have liked. Yes, I enjoyed discovering this place and I was curious enough to see how the main characters handled their journey through grief, but I didn't love it. I feel like I didn't completely understand some of the parts and so, I missed a real connection to the characters. I am sure that other readers will fall completely in love with this story though, because as I said, it did have all the ingredients to steal your heart, I was probably not in the best mood for such a delicate story.

Nearly every book that I have read that has been translated from another language I have found to be enjoyable. The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina is no exception. It is the story of Yui. She is a survivor of a tsunami yet she is trapped by a tsunami of guilt over the death of her mother ad daughter. When she hears of a telephone box that somehow helps victims of grief she is drawn on a pilgrimage to the spot. When she gets there Yui can’t bring herself to enter the phone box and we see her cling on to her guilt.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is a gorgeous story that is so hopeful about the future and discusses grief and promises that acceptance of loss does not mean that you are guilty but that life does move on. In allowing herself to move forward with her life she releases herself from survivors guilt.

Overall, The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is a story of loss and hope. The story is so beautifully told that you cannot help but feel uplifted by it.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina is available now.

For more information regarding Laura Imai Messina (@LaImsiMessina) please visit www.lauraimaimessina.com.

For more information regarding Bonnier Books (@bonnierbooks_uk) please visit www.bonnierbooks.co.uk.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina is a unique, moving but ultimately uplifting book that took my breath away. Different to anything I’ve ever read before, it is a beautifully written and mesmerising story of love, loss and hope that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.

Devastated by the loss of her mother and daughter in the Tohoku tsunami of 2011, Yui is so consumed by grief she doesn’t know how she is going to carry on living. But then she hears about a disused phone box that stands in a garden in Japan, where people travel from all over the world to lift up the receiver and speak into the wind, hoping to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.

So Yui decides to make her own pilgrimage to the magical phone box overlooking the sea, longing to speak once more to the mother and daughter she misses so much. But once there she can’t bring herself to speak, unable to find the right words to say. So she stays and watches as people come and go, as their words of love and longing are carried away by the wind.

Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose daughter has stopped speaking after the unbearable loss they have both suffered. As their friendship grows, Yui and Takeshi slowly begin to come to terms with the deep sorrow they feel. Takeshi and his daughter Hana help Yui as she finally starts to find meaning in her life again, the connection between all three growing as they begin to accept that the grief they feel does not have to mean that their lives are over.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is a powerful and thought provoking novel that moved me beyond words, bringing to mind my own personal losses as I allowed myself to be swept away on a journey of love and loss, tears rolling down my cheeks on more than one occasion at the poignant and beautiful moments held between the pages of this breathtaking story. The phone box itself is based on the true story of the Japanese garden of Bell Gardia, where pilgrims really do speak into the Wind Phone, hoping their words will reach their loved ones and enable them to come to terms with their grief. This fact brought an authenticity to the tale that made Yui’s story even more real to me, bringing it vividly to life as I read, my heart filled to bursting as I turned the final page.

Laura Imai Messina has written a unique book unlike any I have ever read before. It’s an emotional read that takes you through every stage of grief, so do bear this in mind if you’ve suffered a recent loss, but the overall thought I was left with as I turned the final page was that even in our most darkest of times it is possible to find a glimmer of hope. I loved every word of this beautifully written and thought provoking book and can’t recommend it highly enough. Simply breathtaking.

My Thoughts: this book was utterly heartbreaking but totally captivating, I adored it as much as it made me cry, I needed to read more to find out what happened with Yui!

I loved the idea of being able to pick up the phone and talk to someone we’d lost, I myself have a couple of people that came to kid when I thought about it but I don’t know if I’d be able to do it!

If you love a story full of hope, a story all about accepting that it’s ok to move ok with your life when everything tells you to do the opposite then this is the one for you, just be a prepared to feel ALL THE EMOTIONS and make sure you have tissues!

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina has a very unique concept at its centre. A special telephone box is situated at Bell Gardia, a special garden far away from Toyko. What sets this telephone box apart from all the rest is that it is not connected to any landlines but instead serves a very rare and exceptional purpose, here people come from far and wide to make a ‘call’ to their lost loved ones. They can enter the box, pick up the receiver and just talk. Their words, feelings and expressions float away on the wind in the hopes that the ones they lost and so desperately wish to have back will hear what they have to say.

This telephone box is an exclusive and rare thing aimed at offering solace, comfort and a lifeline to those left behind. The people who use it are mired in grief, lost and all alone as the burden of their sadness weighs heavily. As the book opens, our main character Yui is battling to save the box as a typhoon is about to hit. Her daughter and mother were lost to the sea in the tsunami of 2011 and she does not wish this tentative connection to them to be lost forever. We are then taken back in time to see how she reached this point.

The Telephone Box at the Edge of the World is a real literary novel and not one I would be used to reading. I would usually expect to read a book and take things as they are stated and not to have to read too much into or search for the hidden meaning behind words, sentences and entire paragraphs. Here this is what I had to do. At some points, I found myself having to stop and contemplate what was being said, what context it was being used in and what the author was trying to say. This didn’t detract from the overall flow of the story, in fact I flew through this in two sittings. It was very easy to read through the pages so much so that at some points I found myself having read several pages and I couldn’t recollect what had been said. Whereas at other junctures I stopped and contemplated.

I could see what the author was trying to achieve in writing this story and for the most part she did succeed. But on the other hand, I found it all just too fast and it went off into irrelevant tangents that had no significant meaning or forbearing on the story. After every chapter was a either a list or some other element based on what had occurred in the previous chapter. Be it what Yui and Hanna bought at a shop or the details of a book read to Hanna. Some people will love the inclusion of this element in the book but for me honestly I found it distracting and I just wanted to get back to the central story despite the briefness of these interludes. I have no doubt that other readers will find these respites fascinating and worthwhile.

Some may feel a book about grief and loss would be all doom and gloom and would be a very heavy read. Having experienced my own personal loss of a very close loved one I admit I was slightly apprehensive about reading this story but I didn’t find it heavy at all. Instead moments of hope, understanding, inspiration and acceptance shine through at just the right moments despite the speed of the overall plot. Yui carries a deep abyss inside her ever since the devastating consequences of the tsunami. When she hears of the box she believes it may help her as she can’t quite believe that the pain she is experiencing is what will give her future life depth.

Yui is not up to the challenges life has set her and when she arrives at Bell Gardia and sees a man about to visit an instant connection is struck up and a friendship is formed. Takeshi visits the telephone so he can talk to his wife who has passed on, leaving him as a single father to Hanna who had not spoken since her mother had passed away. He is struggling and looking for answers and wondering how he can keep going and help Hanna? How can he manage his grief and find comfort as everybody’s grief at first looks the same but then dig a little deeper and you will find it is ultimately unique.

For the most part Yui does not use the telephone to show how she feels, rather she wanders the surrounding gardens as Takeshi expresses how he is feeling and seeks advice and his words float away on the wind to reach whatever destination our loved ones venture to after they have passed. The entire time you are reading through the story you question why Yui can’t pick up the receiver and talk? What is stopping her? What is she afraid of? Is she not meant to speak and instead something else drew her to this place? Perhaps in order to find Takeshi? It’s difficult to establish a relationship with our loved ones after they have gone but the telephone provides that connection if only Yui can establish it.

The years pass and the story flows very quickly. Yui’s fragility and the cracks in her life expose themselves at regular intervals. She gets closer to Takeshi but the concept of becoming a mother again, to Hanna this time, provide many conundrums and difficulties for her. Guilt at moving on when her mother and daughter can’t and trying to accept a possible new life for her are hard to comprehend. She takes a very long time to be ready for joy again. It’s like pain is her new comfort zone that she can’t break free from but you question whether she would prefer to remain in this state forever. The latter half of the book became the story of Yui and Takehshi’s relationship and we come to understand why Yui went to Bell Gardia as the typhoon hit land. Things made a lot more sense and without this significant event I don’t think we would have reached the final crucial point of the story.

Perhaps the most profound statement came in the end notes. Is the wind phone a metaphor that suggests how precious it is to hold on tight to joy as well as pain, that even when we are confronted by the subtractions, the things that life takes from us, we have to open ourselves up to the many additions it can offer too? There is certainly plenty of food for thought in those words.

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World was a mixed bag for me. I didn’t love it nor did I hate it rather I sit firmly in the middle with regard to my overall opinion. I understand the concept and the meaning behind it all but it didn’t really hit me where I know it was meant to perhaps that’s because honestly there were points where nothing really happened at all yet I would have read several chapters. My attention wandered at times and that shouldn’t happen with a truly absorbing book. Saying that I am glad I read it and discovered the memorable and unusual telephone box that does so much good work for so many at a time when they need it most.

This book took me very long to read, simply because it was about such a painful topic. At the start of the book, there is a lot of talk about mass grief and loss of loved ones because of natural disaster. I remember crying quite a few times while reading it, so I kept abandoning it and coming back after a few months. After about a third of it, it was more about healing and it developed into quite a sweet story of mending families, being there for one another. It was truly a touching story.

And I just realized how symbolic it is that I finished this story today, specifically on March 11, 2021. The book was about the aftermath of the events of the disaster of March 11, 2011. I wasn't timing it especially so. I just picked it back up today. I've now got shivers running down my spine. It's specifically ten years today, and I can hear a strong wind howling outside the window. Uncanny...

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.