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queen_unicorn_rejectWaltz of the Saezuri Library
Today I want to leave not a review but some impressions of the book I found and read here in the training center. It's a Japanese novel called Waltz of the Saezuri Library. It's a sort of slice of life story about a library in the distant future where paper books are obsolete and everyone consumes information through their tablets.
The main character is the titular Waltz-san, who is the head librarian of this library, a fleeting relic of the old world. This world takes place after World War III, and while old cities are in ruins, little downs like Saezuri were left untouched. Every book in the library is implanted with a chip, and Waltz-san was granted special permission to be able to track down the location of any book that goes missing or stolen.
The book is formatted as an anthology. The first story is about Kamio-san, an office lady who, after finding the library by chance, falls in love with reading and finds solace in the library. She befriends an old man, who she initially meets because her car bumped into his.
The second story is about Koto-san, who is a school teacher in the nearby elementary school. Koto is a regular at the library, in an age where almost all education is done automatically through digital curriculums on tablets. She meets the new security guard at the library, Tango-kun, who is sort of a young punk delinquent type who doesn't really like books. She runs into two blond children who look like foreigners; Adam and Eve. They don't go to school, because their father told them their life will be short anyway, which shocks Koto.
The third story is about Morio-san, a network technician who despises books because his grandfather was obsessed with them. He eventually died while having dementia, buying multiple books that he already owned and forgetting his children's names. But before he died, he received treatmenet from Waltz-san's father, who was a brain surgeon. For the surgery fee, he gave away all of his books to Waltz Yoshiakira, which is the reason why Morio harbours strong hatred for Waltz-san. He was recently offered a deal to sell the copyright to his grandfather's books, which is why he came to the library and tried to steal the books. However, in the end, while Waltz-san doesn't let him take the books away, she concedes that the words in those books do possess a "soul", and that belongs to Morio. This was my favourite story because a lot of the old characters like Kamio-san returns and has the most philsophical musings out of the stories.
The fourth story is named after the titular Waltz-san, but it's really about Innzuka, a pregnant woman who ran away from her husband to the old city ruins because she didn't want to abort the baby. She steals a picture book from the library, a book written by her aunt. We also see glimpses of Waltz-san's past; she was a war orphan who Yoshiakira took in, after the war. I thought this was a weak ending to the book because Waltz-san doesn't let this woman take the only relic of her family, because "these books are mine", and her offer is that she should come live in Saezuri. Man, she wouldn't be living in the ruins if she could do that! Just thought it was a dumb conclusion,
The fifth and final story is an epilogue of sorts. Koto takes her schoolchilden to the library for a field trip. The narrator is Naito, who doesn't see paper books as useful. There's also Jyuri, a mute boy who hates books. They later meet Adam and Eve, who are revealed to be "highbrands" - artificial humans created through eugenics. So Adam can see the "colours" of people's emotions and Eve has perfect memory. Jyuri goes missing in the night so they go looking for him but it turns out that he was just sleeping somewhere else where you couldn't see books. Turns out, his mother tried some sort of therapy on him involving books to help him speak and it failed. But in the end he learns to open up to books, bit by bit.
This is basically a healing or "iyashikei" book with some philosophic elements to it as well. The authour tells you in the afterword: "Paper books or e-books? I choose paper books, and this book is my reason why." I do like paper books rather a lot and I love libraries so this was a cute little heartwarming story about different kinds of people learning to love reading books. I wish the ending was a bit more hard hitting though, it was a bit disappointing.
Anyway, that's the book I read. Today was bit of a nothing day. But now the weekend approaches which is fun! Also, next Thursday is family visitation day, so my mom is coming to see me. I told her not to come at first, but apparently you get to go outside with family, so I'm going just so I can get the fuck out of here. Gonna eat some fried chicken or something, something that's really good.
I think the next book I'll read will be "Human Acts" by Han Kang, a Korean novelist who recently won the novel prize for literature. The book is about the Gwangju Massacre from 1980 and I've heard it's quite good. I hope I'll get to read it all in 6 days though, since I have to return it to the library before Friday.
Today I want to leave not a review but some impressions of the book I found and read here in the training center. It's a Japanese novel called Waltz of the Saezuri Library. It's a sort of slice of life story about a library in the distant future where paper books are obsolete and everyone consumes information through their tablets.
The main character is the titular Waltz-san, who is the head librarian of this library, a fleeting relic of the old world. This world takes place after World War III, and while old cities are in ruins, little downs like Saezuri were left untouched. Every book in the library is implanted with a chip, and Waltz-san was granted special permission to be able to track down the location of any book that goes missing or stolen.
The book is formatted as an anthology. The first story is about Kamio-san, an office lady who, after finding the library by chance, falls in love with reading and finds solace in the library. She befriends an old man, who she initially meets because her car bumped into his.
The second story is about Koto-san, who is a school teacher in the nearby elementary school. Koto is a regular at the library, in an age where almost all education is done automatically through digital curriculums on tablets. She meets the new security guard at the library, Tango-kun, who is sort of a young punk delinquent type who doesn't really like books. She runs into two blond children who look like foreigners; Adam and Eve. They don't go to school, because their father told them their life will be short anyway, which shocks Koto.
The third story is about Morio-san, a network technician who despises books because his grandfather was obsessed with them. He eventually died while having dementia, buying multiple books that he already owned and forgetting his children's names. But before he died, he received treatmenet from Waltz-san's father, who was a brain surgeon. For the surgery fee, he gave away all of his books to Waltz Yoshiakira, which is the reason why Morio harbours strong hatred for Waltz-san. He was recently offered a deal to sell the copyright to his grandfather's books, which is why he came to the library and tried to steal the books. However, in the end, while Waltz-san doesn't let him take the books away, she concedes that the words in those books do possess a "soul", and that belongs to Morio. This was my favourite story because a lot of the old characters like Kamio-san returns and has the most philsophical musings out of the stories.
The fourth story is named after the titular Waltz-san, but it's really about Innzuka, a pregnant woman who ran away from her husband to the old city ruins because she didn't want to abort the baby. She steals a picture book from the library, a book written by her aunt. We also see glimpses of Waltz-san's past; she was a war orphan who Yoshiakira took in, after the war. I thought this was a weak ending to the book because Waltz-san doesn't let this woman take the only relic of her family, because "these books are mine", and her offer is that she should come live in Saezuri. Man, she wouldn't be living in the ruins if she could do that! Just thought it was a dumb conclusion,
The fifth and final story is an epilogue of sorts. Koto takes her schoolchilden to the library for a field trip. The narrator is Naito, who doesn't see paper books as useful. There's also Jyuri, a mute boy who hates books. They later meet Adam and Eve, who are revealed to be "highbrands" - artificial humans created through eugenics. So Adam can see the "colours" of people's emotions and Eve has perfect memory. Jyuri goes missing in the night so they go looking for him but it turns out that he was just sleeping somewhere else where you couldn't see books. Turns out, his mother tried some sort of therapy on him involving books to help him speak and it failed. But in the end he learns to open up to books, bit by bit.
This is basically a healing or "iyashikei" book with some philosophic elements to it as well. The authour tells you in the afterword: "Paper books or e-books? I choose paper books, and this book is my reason why." I do like paper books rather a lot and I love libraries so this was a cute little heartwarming story about different kinds of people learning to love reading books. I wish the ending was a bit more hard hitting though, it was a bit disappointing.
Anyway, that's the book I read. Today was bit of a nothing day. But now the weekend approaches which is fun! Also, next Thursday is family visitation day, so my mom is coming to see me. I told her not to come at first, but apparently you get to go outside with family, so I'm going just so I can get the fuck out of here. Gonna eat some fried chicken or something, something that's really good.
I think the next book I'll read will be "Human Acts" by Han Kang, a Korean novelist who recently won the novel prize for literature. The book is about the Gwangju Massacre from 1980 and I've heard it's quite good. I hope I'll get to read it all in 6 days though, since I have to return it to the library before Friday.
