Reviews with content warning for 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

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

pancakeoverlord's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

am3lias_booksss's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

3.75

It seems to be a great book but I just didn’t get it. Lovely vibes but I feel I’m missing something philosophically.

Content Warnings

owlmanda's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring reflective

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

5.0

This got me; I’m crying.

Content Warnings

prassanjeet's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The concept of death is a mystery and the book explores yet another possibility of making sense out of it and I found it interesting. However, the real deal is about the people in these stories who lived difficult life but still found meaning at some point in their life which they can cherish forever.

Content Warnings

firecracker19's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

alavenderlibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...