I read this to compare The Love Suicides at Sonezaki with The Love Suicides at Amijima in preparation for one of my personal projects. Sonezaki feels more straightforward and is the more "romantic" of the two, whereas Amijima feels like a gloriously messy trainwreck and more complex in terms of characters, relationships, and the treatment of love suicides themselves. Amijima lends itself more to analysis and discussion, yet Sonezaki's imagery is powerful. It's understandable why his plays became a sensation! When studying love suicide plays, I don't think one should be read without the other.

For this particular collection, it's a small sampling of his plays but can serve as a good intro. I know that Keene's translation of Love Suicides at Sonezaki is better compared to another one I read years ago, though I'm not sure about other translations in existence. I briefly compared some sections to the original Japanese. It is difficult to fully convey these plays in English. The people who might enjoy the plays most are ones who have understanding of context re the time period and culture.

what the book does well

The music festival setting made it a fun summerween pick!

The collection of flashbacks and media clippings that appeared at the start of chapters was my favorite part of this book. These helped to flesh out the world + character backgrounds and were genuinely fun and intriguing. I was interested in everything related to the hollowing and the subsequent changes in society and struggles the characters had with their families, friends, and the government.

Pacing and general entertainment were also good. It's a quick page turner, but doesn't feel like a cardboard story, which I really appreciate. Cardboard stories are what I call stories that have almost no attempts at developing the characters and setting, so they feel like you're watching puppets made out of cardboard. I wouldn't say this is the most developed or complex, but it had an appropriate level for a YA horror/thriller.

What the book doesn't do well

Overall plot and romantic subplot were underwhelming. Romantic subplot was very cute and adorable but felt too expected in the way it unfolded.

Also felt like the climax didn't climax enough and then cut off earlier than expected.

I appreciate that the author was trying to make this book diverse, but character introductions are extremely awkward and felt like an inexperienced writer. A character would be introduced like "There was Bob. He was 22, white, bisexual, and masculine presenting. And there was Ted. He was black, straight, and masculine presenting" (Not exact quote and this is a slight exaggeration...only slightly). This way of introducing characters was done even to insignificant side characters who were in the story for a minute or less, sometimes more than one in a row.

The problem is that the author doesn't know how to integrate diversity and introduce characters in a way that's natural and skilled. This doesn't ruin the story, but it made me think, "😬 where were the editors and why hasn't anyone discussed this with the author?!" Really, how does this stuff slip through the editing process? It's a major writing skill issue.

I also wondered if the author was dipping into stereotypes at certain points with representation, even if it felt there was an attempt to avoid that, but idk, the representation aspect overall felt clunky. There were great intentions, but this needs work.