Review of Kai by
Derek Vasconi (2016)
I was hesitant to begin this book based on the description.
Coming of age stories about young girls are usually not my area of interest.
But the author was persistent in their inquiries and willing to send me a paperback advance review copy.
Usually if anyone is determined enough to actually send me a paperback, once I get it in my hands I’m fairly consistent about getting the book read.
I warned the author that if I couldn’t think of anything nice to say about the book, I wouldn’t post a review, which is my general policy.
If you can’t think of anything nice to say, don’t say anything.
I’d rather promote the things I like instead of wasting time trashing things I don’t like.
I still do a fair amount of trash talking about things I don’t like, but I try to maintain a higher caliber of critical standards for this little book review blog.
Before I started reading the book, I flipped through it and was pleased to find that there were a few splash page intermissions tucked in between the text.
I like it when a book designer makes the extra effort to use design to make the experience of reading a book a little more immersive when done well, and I think this book does it well.
The use of title/author headers, icons as paragraph breaks, and watermarking is reserved and tasteful and does not distract from the main text.
I admit that I’m a bit of a Japanophile, having read a few manga series and watched several dozen anime. I’m also a big fan of Japanese directors of samurai movies and Japanese horror movies.
Not so much of a fan that I would consider myself an expert, but more interested than your average consumer of modern media.
My interest has never been serious enough that I studied the language so that I could understand the media without translation or subtitles, but I can usually understand what’s happening and know a few words when I hear them.
The author uses two or three Japanese terms a page in the first fifty or so pages, but is kind enough to provide footnotes providing short definitions of the terms which is not as intrusive as it might sound and I appreciated as a reader that is not as familiar with Japanese terms as they would like to be.
As for the main story, I admit that my initial suspicion was correct.
I am not the target audience for a novel about two Asian girls a world apart with some sort of supernatural connection.
Although I admit that I enjoyed playing both of the Fatal Frame video games, in which you play as a young Japanese girl trying to survive solving a mystery with a magic ghost-capturing camera, the experience of playing as a young girl didn’t imprint itself upon me so much that I followed the Japanese Lolita/schoolgirl fetish further down the rabbit hole and started getting into Sailor Moon.
I do admit that I watched a couple of the Eko Eko Azarak movies, but I think that’s different enough to excuse without admitting to a Japanese schoolgirl fetish.
Despite being able to acknowledge that I am not the ideal target audience for this book, I can objectively recognize the quality of the writing and editing.
A fair amount of time and effort was put into writing this book and it shows.
Aside from some minor usage errors and awkward if grammatically correct sentence structure choices, the book is well-written and if you happen to be the target audience for an Asia-centric paranormal infused coming of age story I can recommend that you give this book a chance.
There is fairly liberal use of the words “fuck” and “motherfucker” and references to adult sexuality which, although not explicit, might discourage some parents from purchasing the book for young or impressionable readers.
I admit that my reading in contemporary Asian paranormal literature is limited and makes my ability to compare this book to other similar books likewise limited.
My only real comparison is Koji Suzuki’s collection of short stories Dark Water (originally published as Honogurai mizu no soko kara) but that’s stiff competition to compare an author’s first novel against.
If you want to know more about the author, you can read an interview with the author here.
Coming of age stories about young girls are usually not my area of interest.
But the author was persistent in their inquiries and willing to send me a paperback advance review copy.
Usually if anyone is determined enough to actually send me a paperback, once I get it in my hands I’m fairly consistent about getting the book read.
I warned the author that if I couldn’t think of anything nice to say about the book, I wouldn’t post a review, which is my general policy.
If you can’t think of anything nice to say, don’t say anything.
I’d rather promote the things I like instead of wasting time trashing things I don’t like.
I still do a fair amount of trash talking about things I don’t like, but I try to maintain a higher caliber of critical standards for this little book review blog.
Before I started reading the book, I flipped through it and was pleased to find that there were a few splash page intermissions tucked in between the text.
I like it when a book designer makes the extra effort to use design to make the experience of reading a book a little more immersive when done well, and I think this book does it well.
The use of title/author headers, icons as paragraph breaks, and watermarking is reserved and tasteful and does not distract from the main text.
I admit that I’m a bit of a Japanophile, having read a few manga series and watched several dozen anime. I’m also a big fan of Japanese directors of samurai movies and Japanese horror movies.
Not so much of a fan that I would consider myself an expert, but more interested than your average consumer of modern media.
My interest has never been serious enough that I studied the language so that I could understand the media without translation or subtitles, but I can usually understand what’s happening and know a few words when I hear them.
The author uses two or three Japanese terms a page in the first fifty or so pages, but is kind enough to provide footnotes providing short definitions of the terms which is not as intrusive as it might sound and I appreciated as a reader that is not as familiar with Japanese terms as they would like to be.
As for the main story, I admit that my initial suspicion was correct.
I am not the target audience for a novel about two Asian girls a world apart with some sort of supernatural connection.
Although I admit that I enjoyed playing both of the Fatal Frame video games, in which you play as a young Japanese girl trying to survive solving a mystery with a magic ghost-capturing camera, the experience of playing as a young girl didn’t imprint itself upon me so much that I followed the Japanese Lolita/schoolgirl fetish further down the rabbit hole and started getting into Sailor Moon.
I do admit that I watched a couple of the Eko Eko Azarak movies, but I think that’s different enough to excuse without admitting to a Japanese schoolgirl fetish.
Despite being able to acknowledge that I am not the ideal target audience for this book, I can objectively recognize the quality of the writing and editing.
A fair amount of time and effort was put into writing this book and it shows.
Aside from some minor usage errors and awkward if grammatically correct sentence structure choices, the book is well-written and if you happen to be the target audience for an Asia-centric paranormal infused coming of age story I can recommend that you give this book a chance.
There is fairly liberal use of the words “fuck” and “motherfucker” and references to adult sexuality which, although not explicit, might discourage some parents from purchasing the book for young or impressionable readers.
I admit that my reading in contemporary Asian paranormal literature is limited and makes my ability to compare this book to other similar books likewise limited.
My only real comparison is Koji Suzuki’s collection of short stories Dark Water (originally published as Honogurai mizu no soko kara) but that’s stiff competition to compare an author’s first novel against.
If you want to know more about the author, you can read an interview with the author here.
