Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of "The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World" by Laura Imai Messina which is a fictional tale based on the real Wind phone in Japan.
" ... life decays, countless cracks form over time. But it was those very cracks, the fragility that
…more determined a person's story: that made them want to keep going, to find what happens next" . To me this is the heart of the story. We meet Yui who loses both her mother and daughter in the 2001 tsunami that struck Japan. It explores the universal feeling of loss and the heart-rending grief that follows a loss. However , it also explores how different people handle that grief and how they choose to go forward , or not, in their continued existence. It is a story in the most part of great hope, resilience and love . We meet many people in the book who choose to visit the wind phone as a way to cope with their loss. People visit the beautiful gardens by the sea and enter a phone booth where they use a phone to send their words, their sorrow, their hopes in to the universe and to their loved ones. The writing is poetic almost to the point of meditative. The characters are memorable. The story is beautiful. It resonated with me on several levels but I do not think that you have to personally experience loss to sense its beauty.
I love that the writer state s"that even when we are confronted by the subtractions, the things that life takes from us, we have to open ourselves up to the many additions it can offer too". This is so true yet so difficult at times to do in our lives. I love how even if you have a before and an after, there are things that may happen in both time-frames. Those experiences are different yet similar but you can enjoy equally the richness of each experience in their time. I believe this tender novel/love story can be enjoyed by many and would make a wonderful addition to the "Book Club Shelf". There are many situations and even characters in the book that would instigate a discussion.
I enjoyed learning more about Japan and Japanese culture. I appreciated the appendix at the back of book to identify and explain the Japanese words and holidays in the book. I also appreciated that the author included in the afterword, a website for those readers who were interested in the real BelGardia and who wished to learn more about it. (less)
