Thursday, 2 May 2024

Hell - Yasutaka Tsutsui - Book Review

 


                Even though I have read a few Japanese books, almost all of them were mysteries. The only horror writer, I came across, was Koji Suzuki of the famed Ring series. Last week on my visit to the library, I came across this book and was interested in the book cover. I did not read the blurb and decided to read it impromptu hoping it would be a horror novel.

                The novel follows a few characters and their time in Hell. This is not your normal hell where the devil sits amongst fire pits and punishes you. We come across a set of interesting characters like a yakuza, an actor, a writer, a businessman, an actress, etc. The circumstances of their death and how they react when they pass on to Hell. Hell is a place where just three days can last for ten years on earth. People can read each other's minds and think over their lives. Plus they are devoid of any feelings and emotions. The story talks about the transition of people to hell and how they come to terms with what they did with their lives.

                The book started off well but at last ended up an average read. As I said, it reflects the lives of people and in Hell, they can read each other. The fact that Hell was actually depicted as a place for redemption was something I appreciated. As the characters in the book, we also ponder who determines the criteria for a person to be put in Hell. There are no chapters in the book. This makes the non-linear narration confusing. Characters suddenly change in between paragraphs making me go back and refer to who they actually are. This was very frustrating for me. Nevertheless, the reading was very fast and I could finish it within a day. The translation was pretty decent enough but marred with a couple of spelling mistakes. 

                To sum up, a great concept marred by an average read. A lot of the story takes up with us visiting Hell with almost all the characters. Again, Hell being seen as a place of redemption was a very impressive idea. Those who are looking for a quick sci-fi kind of read can go for a one-time read.



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