Member Review
Review by
Ian P, Reviewer
I’m afraid that this collection of short stories really wasn’t for me, and I left it unfinished 60% of the way through (11 of the 17 stories).
These stories are small slices of life, mostly from the perspective of a foreigner living in Japan. Each little vignette nicely captures a mood, but, while there was a charm in many of them, the mood that was mostly captured seemed to be that of a mundane daily life. The world being painted felt quite grey. Unfortunately, I simply wasn’t engaged by any of the stories, and I found the outcome of most of them to be unremarkable. There were a few times when the author teased me with a what seemed to be a tantalising moment of insight - for example, the subjective nature of “under budget, and on time” in ‘Spinning Wheels’, or ignoring the roots while being captivated by the leaves in ‘The Tree’ - but these were unsatisfyingly underdeveloped.
Maybe I’m missing the point. Maybe the point is to immerse oneself in the grey mundanity of daily life, and enjoy these gentle fables of regret, hubris, and growth.
I did laugh out loud in ‘Burned’, though. And the illustrations are nice.
Thank you #NetGalley and Neem Tree Press for the free review copy of #TakeoutSushi in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
These stories are small slices of life, mostly from the perspective of a foreigner living in Japan. Each little vignette nicely captures a mood, but, while there was a charm in many of them, the mood that was mostly captured seemed to be that of a mundane daily life. The world being painted felt quite grey. Unfortunately, I simply wasn’t engaged by any of the stories, and I found the outcome of most of them to be unremarkable. There were a few times when the author teased me with a what seemed to be a tantalising moment of insight - for example, the subjective nature of “under budget, and on time” in ‘Spinning Wheels’, or ignoring the roots while being captivated by the leaves in ‘The Tree’ - but these were unsatisfyingly underdeveloped.
Maybe I’m missing the point. Maybe the point is to immerse oneself in the grey mundanity of daily life, and enjoy these gentle fables of regret, hubris, and growth.
I did laugh out loud in ‘Burned’, though. And the illustrations are nice.
Thank you #NetGalley and Neem Tree Press for the free review copy of #TakeoutSushi in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
