emfiliane reviewed The Great Passage by Shion Miura
Review of 'The Great Passage' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I liked the beginning of this book, and I slowly liked it less as it progressed, until I simply wanted to be done with it and make it go away. It was almost as if the 'hell month' of the climax took over the entire book too, as the writing and plot narrowed into a singular focus around the work, and the rarer outside stories and characters became increasingly banal. If the intent was to make finishing the book as much of a chore as finishing the dictionary at the center of the story, it sure succeeded. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same jubilation when it was over.
Another big part of what turned me off is that there's just so much feel-good, everything goes right for everyone every time, Hallmark original plotting. The charmed lives of everyone in this book never seem to face rejection or failure. There are …
I liked the beginning of this book, and I slowly liked it less as it progressed, until I simply wanted to be done with it and make it go away. It was almost as if the 'hell month' of the climax took over the entire book too, as the writing and plot narrowed into a singular focus around the work, and the rarer outside stories and characters became increasingly banal. If the intent was to make finishing the book as much of a chore as finishing the dictionary at the center of the story, it sure succeeded. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same jubilation when it was over.
Another big part of what turned me off is that there's just so much feel-good, everything goes right for everyone every time, Hallmark original plotting. The charmed lives of everyone in this book never seem to face rejection or failure. There are extra-pithy quotes dropped from time to time that stand out as seeming tailor-made to appeal to bibliophiles, to make up for the rest.
The gimmick of switching characters every chapter would have worked better if they actually had truly different voices. Instead, they kind of swam together... and granted, that kind of is what starts to happen in a long-term work environment, but it doesn't make for interesting storytelling. Oddly, the long chapter featuring Kishibe, a young woman, is probably the least interesting of all, as she has no real personality or history and nothing to give to the story but a can-do attitude, and with the time-skip everyone else has become dull as well. Kaguya would have been much more interesting to feature, even if she's only on the periphery of the dictionary.
Since the beginning was the only part I liked, it's harder to remember, but I should say that the first third was a real page-turner. There was a lot of good backstory, Araki and Majime are real people, a lot of struggles, and everyone else was fresh and entertaining, in their quirky little lives. Leaning into that would have kept the story going, or simply cutting it off before the characters had all of their rough edges completely sanded off.
