A review by micklesreads
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This book was just not the right book for me at this time. It's a meandering stream of consciousness by a ghost who reflects on his incredibly sad life, up until he becomes homeless and completes suicide. Interspersed are snippets of his observances of the Tokyo homeless camp, public park, and train station where he lived late in life.

There are some beautiful reflections on how we can become unhoused and just how easy it is for that to happen. This is really about a man who was a ghost even when he was alive and about the myriad ways capitalism cruelly robs is of choice and humanity.
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