The Art of Reading

Summary:

We all have something to tell those we have lost . . .

When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she wonders how she will ever carry on. Yet, in the face of this unthinkable loss, life must somehow continue. Then one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone box in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone box spreads, people will travel there from miles around.Soon Yui will make her own pilgrimage to the phone box, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Then she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss.

What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking. – Goodreads.com

My Thoughts:

This was such a unique work of literary fiction. I’ll be honest, it was the cover that originally drew me to this one but the book itself was a beautiful and heartbreaking portrait of grief and recovery. I felt like I got to know our main character, Yui, really well and that closeness created an emotional tie which added so much to the reading experience. I wasn’t a huge fan of the structure of the book, the story jumped around a lot which resulted in the timeline being a bit jumbled and then there were too many random characters and pov’s introduced that stilted the flow of the book. Still, this book left me with a lot to think about so I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys literary fiction! Happy Reading 🙂