From the start of this book you find out one of the main characters Miwako has committed suicide.
You are not told why and that is the stories objective to unravel the whole mystery through learning about her from those closest to her, her friends, boyfriend and family and showing off examples of her personality, what made her so desperate?. But most of the characters in this book have secrets or issues and many are addressed in this well crafted sympathetic story..
The ending was unexpected and a felt a little let down by it but overall I enjoyed this authors style. The writing flowed and I get what some reviewers mean by the 'Murakami vibe'.
A book I would recommend.
My thanks go to the publishers, author and Netgalley in providing this arc in return for a honest review.

“Before I knew it had happened, I’d fallen in love with Miwako Sumida...Eight months later, she hanged herself.
But I wouldn’t let her death slip past me. She’d wanted to tell me something, and I had to find out what it was.”
So begins the story of Miwako Sumida, and her closest friends’ quest to find out why she took her own life. This novel is, in my opinion, as close to perfect as it gets, and it saddens me that it doesn’t seem to be on many people’s radar. The storytelling is simple, beautiful and poignant, and the characters have real depths to them which unfold as the story goes on. It is a beautiful exploration of identity.
I am not usually a fan of the supernatural in literature, but the way it is used in this novel is gentle and only adds to the beauty of the story.
I could rave about this novel for hours, but instead please just let me implore you to add this to the top of the To Read list!

This book is a perfect example of why I'm obsessed with Asian literature. A beautiful, quiet study of character wrapped up in a psychological mystery.

This is the story of Miwako who was only a sophomore when she decided to commit suicide. We follow siblings Ryusei and Fumi. Ryusei was in love with Miwako and Fumi was her friend/boss. On their journey, through grief, we start to discover more and more about the mysterious life of Miwako Sumida and the events that led to her death. We also learn more about this brother-sister duo who have an incredibly heartbreaking history themselves.

The core of the story is pretty chilling and sad but the execution of this book makes the story feel heartwarming at the same time.

There is a beautiful sibling relationship which I love, Asian trans representation, mystery, secrets, twists and paranormal elements too. I highly recommend picking this one up!

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida follows a group of friends in Tokyo as they come to terms with the sudden suicide of Miwako Sumida, a solitary and secretive Waseda University student. The story is broken into three narrative sections as the 'love interest', best friend and her love interest's sister piece together the reason why Sumida took her own life.

I'm afraid this book was not for me at all. The writing was sparse and the dialogue unnatural, leading the whole story to feel flat and devoid of feeling. The narrative seemed directionless, and the plot meandering. The magical realism aspect came from nowhere and felt a little tacked on.

As for the characters, each felt completely without depth. I just couldn't warm to their individual narratives. Fumi's storyline had so much potential, and yet her own struggles, social issues, challenges, thoughts and feelings were completely sidelined and never explored. Characters never reacted to anything emotional in any meaningful way, despite the novel covering a full range of tragedies. Moreover, despite taking place after Sumida's death, we never fully get to see how the characters respond to or deal with their grief and loss aside from some flippant comments about crying. This is almost immediately overshadowed by the mystery of why she committed suicide, the answer to which is in itself only briefly tackled and never unpacked.

I really loved this book. We start out knowing that Miwako Sumida took her own life and spend the book slowly unraveling what lead to that point through multiple point's of view. The guy from school that was in love with her, that she could never let herself love back. The best friend that knew her secret identity and deepest secrets. The employer who is trans and has her own special gifts that we get to learn more about towards the end of the book.

It was a very touching and heart warming read laced with plenty of grief and sadness. Through Miwako's death we see the people closest to her facing themselves and tackling their own lives and figuring out how to move on. It was so interesting and well written how Miwako's story slowly unfolds through the people closest to her.

This book obviously does tackle many serious subjects including suicide, rape, sexual assault, abortion and bullying. It is a book I see myself revisiting in the future even if I did have slight issues with how it ended and I am looking forward to picking up her other book, Rainbirds.

A great book with lots of depth. You find out Miwako commits suicide within the first few pages and after that, it documents the details and story leading up to her tragic death. Beautifully written with well-developed characters, this is a solid 4 star read for me.

What a story full of surprises. I am a very big fan of Japanese literature and I think the author, Clarissa Goenawan has done a fantastic and very convincing Japanese novel although she is a Singaporean/ Indonesian writer. The flow of her writing and the atmosphere is very close to some Japanese novels I have read such as Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, for example. Although, there is some moments in the book where I am not convinced the behaviours are very culturally coherent,I think this is a great piece.

We follow the life of Miwako, the quirky misunderstood teenage girl, Ryu, the sweet boy with a difficult past and Fumi-nee, the gorgeous hard-working big sister. It is a story filled with mysteries and surprises but also social issues such as abuse, bullying, transgender awareness and suicide. Throughout this book, you realise that you can never know someone fully, their stories, or their sadness.

I did really enjoyed this story and read it in one setting. What I love most about Japanese literature is it’s magical realism. I felt that it was introduced in the last section but was a little bit out of the blue for me. I wish there has been some connections earlier in the book.

Overall this is a great novel, and I’m looking forward to another novel from this author. Thank you so much Net Galley, the publisher and the author for letting me read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a fascinating character-study piece. The story delves into many themes, but with a particular focus on identity and how it can impact relationships and our sense of self. The LGBT aspects of the tale are nicely handled, and the story moved along at a good pace. The prose style was simple yet thoughtful, and I was always keen to keep turning the pages. The slight fantasy tinges here and there also blended well with the rest of the story, and I found the ending satisfying. Overall, an enjoyable read and I would certainly be interested in picking up more books by Goenawan in the future. 4.5 stars from me.

3 ½ stars

With grace and clarity Clarissa Goenawan's The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida tells a tragic yet tender tale, one that begins with an ending: Miwako Sumida, a university student, has committed suicide.

The novel is divided in three sections, each one following a person who cared for Miwako: there is Ryusei Yanagi (the only first-person narrative) who was in love with her, Chie Ohno, her best friend since high school, and Fumi Yanagi, Ryusei's older sister. Miwako's death leaves them reeling, from shock, grief, and guilt, and forces them to question how well they knew her and whether they could have some intervened or prevented Miwako from committing suicide.
Through their different perspectives readers will slowly come to know Miwako. While we may guess what she might have been 'hiding' from her loved ones, Miwako retains an air of unknowability. In each section the characters find themselves revisiting their memories of her, giving many scenes a bittersweet quality. Perhaps the setting too contributes to this sense of nostalgia (most of the story takes place in the mid-to-late 80s).
Through her luminous prose Goenawan sheds light on a painful subject matter. Like her characters, she doesn't romanticise nor condemns Miwako's actions, rendering instead with empathy the pain that drove her to commit suicide. Goenawan demonstrates the same delicacy when touching upon subjects such as sexual abuse and bullying.
I felt lulled by gentle pace of this novel, even as the story explored distressing realities. Friendships, family history, gender, and sexuality play an important role in each narrative, and I found Goenawan's portrayal of these to be extremely compelling.

As much as I loved Goenawan's evocative prose and her well-drawn characters, I was underwhelmed by the overarching storyline. The last section, which followed one of the characters I liked the most, seems far more meandering than the previous ones as it seems to move away from Miwako. And while I do count myself as a fan of magical realism, here it felt a bit sudden.
The ending was rushed and left me wanting more. Still, I would definitely reccomend this to those who enjoy literary fiction.

This book was like a breath of fresh air. It's short, beautiful, and harrowing. It tells the story of Mikawo's friendships and how she came to commit suicide. You find out she committed suicide in the first few pages and you spend the rest of the novel experiencing her growing friendships, love, and trauma in the lead up to her suicide. There's a beautiful love story at the heart. I adored these two character's relationship and the way trauma manifests for the protagonist. It touches on important topics of gender, youth, and family which felt all the more powerful during of #PrideMonth. Though there's a simplicity to the writing the characters are well developed and you really feel like you come on a journey with them. Highly recommend.

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is the story of an enigmatic,to the point of being strange,young woman and her small circle of friends. When Miwako commits suicide her friends try to solve the riddle of her life, who she really was and where she came from. after she briefly flitted through their lives. Ryusei, the boy who loved her despite being rebuffed whenever he mentioned romance,and her best friend Chie travel to the remote mountainside village where she spent her last days while Ryusei's sister Fumi stays at home where she ponders her own relationship with Miwako.
In life it's hard to understand why the small group are drawn to Miwako, she's difficult, lacks social skills and is not particularly likeable but as the story unfolds the reasons for her spiky personality and reluctance to reveal her past become clear.
I wasn't sure what to make of this book at the start but very soon got into it. It's quirky,insightful and has a touch of the supernatural,something I'm not usually keen on but it works very well.
All of the characters have their own stories , are just as interesting as Miwako and like her Chie and Fumi have re-invented themselves and have hidden depths.
Something a bit different that I really enjoyed.

Thanks to Clarissa Goenawan, Scribe UK and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.