ラストのどんでん返しに驚愕！ 涙が溢れる著者渾身の最新作。 文具会社で働く24歳の生久田菜摘は仕事もプライベートも充実せず、無気力になっていた。ある夜、ひとり会社で残業をしていると火事に巻き込まれ、意識を失ってしまう。 はっと気づくと篤生と名乗る謎の男が立っており、「この冬、君は死ぬ」と告げられて――。
ラスト、切ない涙が温かな涙に変わる!! 著者・いぬじゅんが贈る、この冬最高の感動作。 (Pub Date: Feb 05 2019)
This is a lovely coming of age story about depression and overcoming obstacles. This is incredibly relatable for anyone in their mid-twenties, and it was perfect for me, in my early thirties. And isn't that cover just irresistible?
If you know some Japanese and consider this novel, know my level is intermediate. The kanji will have very few furigana (since this is an ebook, it was no problem using a dictionary). It's set on a workplace, so the vocabulary wasn't as familiar to me, but it wasn't hard at all. It is a great pick if you want to escape high school stories and still have something not too complex.
Onto the story, Natsumi is young but not a beginner anymore, and yet she feels her work life isn't going well; her boss is always on her and her mistakes only pile up. She has friends but she hasn't had time to be close enough with them, either. Things are going so downhill that when she's caught up in a fire, she doesn't mind dying anymore. Until she's saved by the mysterious Atsuki. From then on, they meet every December and every year he tells her "This winter, you will die". As Natsumi struggles to overcome each of the death threats, the more she notices she wants to live. But who is Atsuki exactly?
This book isn't centered on romance, but I was pleasantly surprised that we had one. I really like romances, and the one here is super cute. The pacing is slow but strangely not that much, for we only really see about a month each year of Natsumi's life. As a result, I was turning pages faster than I expected for this genre.
As mentioned, Natsumi's situation is very relatable and made me cry with her sometimes. If I have to pick a flaw, it is that the amount of tragedies surrounding her was quite high. It's understandable they had to come up with something so she'd have a life threat each year, but when you're close to the end and think again, that was quite a life!
This story has a bit of everything but it's not overwhelming. The writer knew how to mix drama, humor, romance with the supernatural very well. As for the mystery, it wasn't so central to the story. Which is a good thing, because after half the book, you simply know what it is from the small hints given here and there. Still, the story manages to surprise us a little each chapter as we grow with Natsumi.
It's a sweet book and its words will be with me for a long time.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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