Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Lantern of Lost Memories

Starting this book, I thought it would be another one of those episodic magical realist Japanese fiction novels that beautifully illustrated the precious nature of life. It definitely met up to those standards, but when all of the seemingly unimportant threads throughout the stories tied up at the end of the final chapter, I genuinely cried. I find a lot of meaning in stories where ordinary people are able to do life-changing things through small actions, and Hiiragi depicted that perfectly in The Lantern of Lost Memories.

Content Warnings

annaraemartin's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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pancakeoverlord's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

When I finished this book, I was greeted by an ad for the publisher saying to “Discover Your Next Great Read”.

Well, let me just say this is my next great read. I plan on finding this book and buying a copy for myself to reread it. The way things intermingle. Oh my god I wanted to scream and was stimming about it.

It is a book that is just the right amount of existential dealing with death that won’t leave you pondering life at 2 am.

Please read this. Oh my god.

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lissard's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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firecracker19's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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alavenderlibrary's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I truly mean it when I say I love this book so much! I hope Hiiragi has plans to turn this into a series (similar to the Before The Coffee Gets Cold collection). I would love to read more about this world and the characters—both the ones that exist in the in-between and the people who pass through the photography studio. I thought this was such an interesting idea and loved the themes of celebrating life after death.

Each chapter starts in third perspective as the character for that short story finds themselves in the photo studio after their death; However, it then switches to first person when each character starts telling the story of their most cherished memory. I didn't mind though—it felt natural, like dialogue, and didn't take me out of the story.

The book is split into three chapters, one for each character that passes through the studio. At first

it seems like they aren't connected, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the twist at the end: the little girl who came back to life in the last chapter becomes the nursery school teacher we see in the first two. Hirasaki breaks the rules of the photography studio and gives her the advice that saves her life, ultimately ending up with all of his memories being erased.

I thought this was such a beautiful inclusion, it shows how everything is connected while smoothly weaving in backstory for Hirasaki in the process. I was very impressed to see how skillful Hiiragi is as a writer, something that I feel can be lost in translation with some books. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

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gray's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The book contains three stories - one for each person that has to go through the in-between disguised as a camera shop before they are led to the afterlife.
The story starts slow, although that might be expected since the mechanics of this in-between world is just being brought up for the first time.
Hirasaki, the shop owner (or grim reaper) himself is a pretty nice and likable guy, but it's when he goes on a journey back in time to recover photos of past memories when he shines the most, especially in the last story. There's still so much mystery surrounding him in the end, but that's probably all we're going to get as an explanation.
All three stories were from people in different walks of life, but it still instilled in me the message that life is precious and there's no use in thinking about what-ifs, because we're a product of our decisions in life.

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apolloann's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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