Shibasaki Tomoka
MONKEY
15 February 2025
184
eBook - PDF
Short Stories
ARC via Edelweiss
In these stories of human connection in a contemporary, alienated world, people come together to share pieces of their lives, then part. We meet the women who share a house after the outbreak of war before going their separate ways once it is over; the man who lives in a succession of rooftop apartments; the diverging lives of two brothers who are raised as latch-key kids by factory workers; the old ramen restaurant that endures despite the demolition of all surrounding buildings; people who watch a new type of spaceship lift off from a pier that once belonged to an island resort; and more.
These 34 tales from all over the planet have the compulsive power of news reports, narrated in a crisp yet allegorical style.
I read A Hundred Years and a Day as an ARC and had some initial troubles because, while I could read the text in Adobe Digital Editions on my PC, when I added the book to my eReader all I got were blank pages. I therefore had to read in bits and pieces whenever I was on the PC and had time, so it was a disrupted reading experience which naturally did affect my enjoyment and needs to be taken into account as I give my review. There were some stories in this collection that I particularly enjoyed; however, there were others I struggled to connect with. I also wasn't keen on the fact that the title of each story essentially summarised the plot, as I felt this took away from discovering the story as it progressed. On the plus side, there is a delightful 'visual' appeal to these tales; you can really get an amazing sense of the scenes from the prose. I think Shibasaki sets the scenes really well and manages to squeeze a lot of content into the short word counts of each piece, which is a great skill. If you are a short story fan, I am sure you will find something to like in this collection, and even though it wasn't completely for me, I was still glad of the opportunity to experience this work. I am giving it 3.5 stars.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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