#Paris In July Âme brisée

• Author: Akira Mizubayashi (1951)
• Genre:  novel
• Title:  Âme brisée
• Published:  2019
• #ParisInJuly

• This is a novel written by a french speaking Japanese.
• I found the language uncomplicated even simple
• …and very, very easy to read.
• This would be an excellent choice for a high-school level french reader.
• Weak point: mood, it represents the emotional quality of a story.
• I found every page filled to the brim with nostalgia, heartache,
• and a longing to make sense of a family’s past.
• It was just too much.
• Strong point: sentimentality…if that’s what you are looking for!
• Readers need to care about the story and the characters
• and taping into emotions is the way to go.
• Unfortunately, I did NOT care about the Japanses Rei (son), Yu (father)
• … and the Chinese Lieutenant Kurokami.
• Weak point: pace…the book had too many scenes that simply aren’t going anywhere.
• Many pages to describe playing the violin, deep emotional reaction to classical
• music by Schubert and Bach and scratching a dog behind its ear!
• Weak point: Mizubayashi does not spare himself by releasing a waterfall
• of details (…about music and the violin) that managed to kill all my interest.

Last thoughts:

• Seduced by the cover
• …I expected to swept away by the story.
• It just did not happen.
• Prix des libraires 2020 is incomprehensible!
• Message: don’t judge a book by its cover….ever again!
• #Décevant….disappointing