I was left a little confused by this story and find it hard to review. It started off well. Sora and her family are visiting Japan when an earthquake hits, creating different time zones. Sora's mother dies leaving Sora and her father behind.
Years later, both are still struggling with their grief and explore the zones in search of their lost ones.
I wanted to know more about the zones and the effects as well as the mythology of the catfish. I felt there was much more that could be explored and the end felt rather rushed.

Where do I start with this? I adored it. There's such a tangible sense of emotion, and the ordinary mixed with a magic that changes and warps time and our perception of it. At the heart of the tale is a story of deep-seated grief, and love, and the ways that we can use myths and legends to allay some of that grief.

A lyrical sense flows over the entire book, words as beautiful as the cover itself. Stunning.

This book was beautiful. It was the perfect blend of a sort of science fiction style premise and magical realism. It also delved deep into scientific and philosophical questions about what time is and how we related to it.

I loved the way the myths and religion of Japan were interwoven into this premise. It showed how important little things like shrines and protection spirits are to the daily life of many Japanese people. It really gave insight into how the Japanese people deal with the tragedies of earthquakes and other disasters.

It was also a tiny bit gay! Nothing I read anywhere said it was LGBTQ+ but from reading it, I believe the character is bisexual! It was a nice little surprise for me.

I don't think this review really does it justice, but all I can really say is read this book, it's so good!!

I was expecting this book to be more of a fantasy/folklore based novel than it was, and I was hoping for more about the Japanese mythology surrounding the catfish. In fact, it is much more sci-fi based, and I must admit that I found it hard to follow the science. I would have liked to know more about the zones and their affect on things - it felt like a lot was left unsaid and as such I had gaps in what I understood to be happening.

Sora's grief at the loss of her mother is present on every page, and is handled beautifully, making this a deeply emotional read. I think events in my own life affected my experience of reading this book, and made it an extremely challenging read at times.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this. I just couldn't feel myself connect with the writing or attach to the characters.

Which is a shame because I did find the idea of the plot and the world interesting and fresh. I will perhaps revisit this book later on and try again.

4.5 stars

This will be one of those elusive narratives that I won’t be able to review well because words can’t capture the magic of Catfish Rolling. There’s a feeling this story gives you that is impossible to explain, and I can already tell I’m doing this wrong.

Sora is very difficult to like and impossible to dislike. She’s abrupt and disengaged but too attached and won’t stop searching for a futile dream. Every moment with her is a tug of war, and it’s hard to tell if it’s because she is Canadian and Japanese and the cultures are warring within her or if that’s just who she is. She swings wildly from impersonal and respectful to sarcastic and blunt within the same conversation, no matter who she’s talking to. I think a lot of it comes with her age and the fact that she’s a little lost in life. Which is fair since the rest of her family is very lost, both with and without her.

I was fascinated by these time zones. The time catching up to objects when you remove them from the zone was such a beautiful touch. And the mysteries hiding in each journey varied so much that it’s not surprising most people were afraid of the zones. I want so much more information about why Sora is so unique - travelling between zones without much effect, keeping track of time so precisely, feeling zones and being able to judge their time, not to mention the electric shocks and fast-growing trees. The most frustrating thing about Catfish Rolling is that more and more mysteries are introduced, and almost none of them are solved. Kumagai is not here to answer your questions; she’s here to trap you in this narrative and keep you so intrigued you can’t escape.

Considering this is a fantasy book containing a lot of science, it’s not surprising that Catfish Rolling is more of a feeling than something that can be explained. I know I did a terrible job, but if you like sci-fi or fantasy even a little, I’d recommend you add this book to your TBR. And if you don’t, I’d still add it. Because although the sci-fi/fantasy components are fascinating, complex, and unexplained, there’s a lot more to this book than time travel and shadows with no bodies and catfish god folklore. And maybe read another review because I have no idea how to explain this book other than to say I loved it.

sSet in Japan following the last major earthquake there it covers dealing with loss, grief, sexuality & coming of age.
I hadn’t realised when I requested this book that it was YA & when you start reading it’s obviously set at a target audience.
I loved the Japanese folklore elements (the catfish under Japan that causes earthquakes) & wanted more of these. The promise of magical realism was what initially drew me to the book but I didn’t always understand what was happening in the different zones. Some parts of the book were very slow (like the slow zones?) & other parts I couldn’t put down!
The ending was also confusing (so much so that I picked the book up his morning to finish it only to find I’d actually finished it last night!)
It’s unfair to score this as I think I’d have loved it as a teenager.

What a great story about family, grief, loneliness and so much more! It is beautifully written, thought-provoking and amazing at blending fantastical elements with discussion about science! I was so intrigued by the idea of the time zones and the philosophical and scientific debates around them. Definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

STARTED OFF STRONG, BUT FLOUNDERED AND SUNK

Actual rating: 2.5⭐

I was so on board with this at the beginning. The earthquake, the time zones, the missing people and the mystery? I was so into it. But a great concept can only go so far. Especially when it isn't explored or expanded enough. And without a riveting plot or compelling characters, there's really not much left. I can tell that I am in the minority with my rating, so perhaps I just didn't get it? 🤷‍♀️

👍 What I Liked 👍

Premise: From the beginning the premise seemed strong and very interesting. An earthquake has shifted time, making some parts of Japan faster and others slower. I was super into it and wanted to learn more - especially about the effects and consequences.

👎 What I Disliked 👎

Premise: Sadly, I did not get what I was looking for. The different time zones are described as dangerous, but the actual consequences of them were not explored enough for my taste. I wanted to know even more about these zones - how did they affect people and things? How was it discovered, that they were bad for people? Why did the authorities decide to seal them off? I didn't feel like this was elaborated enough.

Pace: The premise was what kept me engaged to begin with. But at the 50% marker, nothing had really happened and the premise became stale. The pace only picked up a bit at about 60%, but still not enough to actually keep my attention. It was simply too slow and ultimately boring.

This is a beautiful heartbreaking story. I lost a family member myself recently so it was too hard to finish this book right now. But I will read the physical copy I ordered instead.
The writing style is very accessable. The main character is really curious and trying to help you navigate the sutuation. I loved the mythology aspect which gave it a mystical flavor. I just cannot wait to see how this ends. Thank you Head of Zeus for the e-arc I am so sad the timing was not for us but the story definitly is!

Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai

Tw: Greif, Loss of a Parent

Clara Kumagai, a young author from Canada, Japan, and Ireland, makes her debut with Catfish Rolling.
Let's start with this book's first impression. I adore Andrew Davis's cover; the details are awe-inspiring. When the earthquake strikes, Sora and her family vacation in Japan. While a "normal" earthquake would have been devastating, this one causes time pockets. Some places move quickly, while others move slowly. None are understandable, and all are dangerous. Sora's mother died in the disaster, leaving her father behind. But, unlike most, they study the time and the areas, sneaking in when no one is supposed to. In addition, Sora has noticed shadows that no one else seems to notice. When her father goes missing, she has no choice but to track him down because she believes he has slipped back in time. But it's a risky venture...one that could turn her into nothing more than ash. The story moves quickly, but the storytelling is beautiful and, at times, profound. What distinguishes this book is the second theme that runs throughout it: the storyline of time and what it signifies. This book caused me to reflect and question the world around me—as an adult, I could not help but appreciate the teen character's feelings, and I believe this book would appeal to many people over the age of 14.
The writing is gorgeous, lyrical, calm, and considered, expressing an atmosphere of Japan that appears to be relaxed on the surface. In contrast, cracks appear in society and time itself.

"Catfish Rolling" is a wondefully written debut weaving together themes of grief, memory, family and trauma in the wake of a catasrophe. After an earthquake devastates the whole of Japan, Sora and her father are left with only each other for support, living in a country where neither is fully accepted. Sora's identity as half-Japanese and half-Canadian simultanesously hinders her and offers a unique perception of the places where time is warped, sometimes faster, sometimes slower and in-between. The deserted places, whole towns and regions, were delightfully creepy, peaceful and ominous, and I wish the author explored them more. There was a lot of potential in the liminal spaces that feel and behave like separate beings but towards the middle of the story the plot meandered, the attention focused on Sora's relationships with her childhood friend and a new budding crush. Sadly, I found neither of those characters interesting or purposeful to the book, and much more enjoyed dissecting Sora as a grieving young adult and reading about her very complicated, tense but loving relationship with her father.
Nevertheless, I liked this book a lot, and recommend it to everybody who is in the right mental state to read it, and I feel this story will find its readers, and people who will love it and relate to the grief Sora lives with every day.
Rating: 3.5 stars

*Thank you Netgalley and Zephyr for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

I think I struggled with this book because it was so unlike what I expected. It was way more science fiction than it was fantasy, which I was not expecting at all. I found myself feeling pretty confused on the timelines and locations of everything, particularly any flashbacks. A lot of the book felt pretty repetitive and like we were being shown/told the same information over and over again, and so I struggled to be fully immersed and connect to the main character. The ending also felt bizarrely fast-paced compared to the rest of the book which was fairly slow-paced, and so it all felt pretty disjointed.

The main theme of this novel is, however, grief, and I thought it dealt with this topic beautifully, with the difficulty of losing someone you love playing through this whole book; how you can feel that you've moved on, but then grief rears it's head and you're lost all over again. This book did also have such gorgeous writing which fit the magical realism/scifi genre really well.

Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai is a book that uses brilliantly a loose concept of time travel to talk about grief and love, attentively and gracefully. 

It infuses Japanese folklore and mythology with sci-fi elements, in a setting that is contemporary and realistic and yet has a coating all over it, like a taste of magic in the air. The writing is just as fascinating, immersing and captivating in a way that makes the story flow perfectly, balancing themes that are easy to empathize with an intricate mystery, a treasure hunt that is, at the same time, a research for answers and a desperate rescue mission through time and space.
And while it's not the usual kind of story most commonly find in sci-fi books, but mostly an intricate fusion of different timelines in a single path, it works perfectly with the kind of story it wants to tell, using the fracturing of time to reflect on how losing a dear person, a home, is often more drastic than it appears, like losing a piece of a life and having to build all the rest around it- but it's an unsteady existence, on unsteady foundations.

The story resolves in such a delightful way, with a climax that is carefully prepared through long-lost memories and newly made ones. And I especially adored how Sora's journey, in which she works through her feelings, her pain, putting together slowly the piece of her life (not like they were before, but still nicely arranged), ties to the resolution of the time issue itself.

While in some way this strange story didn’t convince me as much as I would have loved to, maybe because I expected something slightly different, I absolutely recommend Catfish Rolling to those looking for a magical realism book with a pinch of science fiction and a beautiful prose.

The hook and the premise of this book were excellent. I read half the book in a day. I did enjoy reading it, but I didn't always follow the storyline and understand what was happening. This was particularly true at the end of the story when I wasn't entirely sure what had happened and how/if anything had been resolved. I also found the dialogue irritating at times. I did enjoy stepping in Japanese culture but felt that more explanations were needed, particularly for words I hadn't encountered before. I did really like the descriptions of food as well.
Overall, it was a good book with an interesting premise. It just felt like it was setting up a world for future books.

The story sounded really exciting, but I had a hard time getting into the book. I didn't connect with the main character Sora at all, and the reason for that is the writing. There wasn't a good flow to the writing, and the storytelling suffered from it. It was just a lot of "this happen, and then this, and then this", without anything that properly filled out the story. This resulted in that even the more exciting parts of the story fell flat.
The premise was great, but the writing... not so much.

An interesting twist on Japanese mythology. A story about the catfish who lives beneath the islands of Japan that causes earthquakes (and temporal shifts) when it moves. An interesting blend of adventure and magic.

There's a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls.

Catfish Rolling is the debut of Clara Kumagai, a young author from Canada, Japan, and Ireland.
Let's get started with the first impression of this book. I really like the cover by Andrew Davis, the details there are truly impressive (that little girl in the letter O is brilliant!). The story itself is unique because it is about an earthquake and a broken time. I know that story about such a natural disaster can be a little bit tough in these times, but it is a really sensitive and perceptive point of view on Japanese mythology and human loss.
The storyline is unusual and original, I have never met a story with this kind of plot. It could have been more detailed, but I never felt lost in the fictional world and I understood what was happening. It was just so interesting that I would love to know more, to have more time to understand how the whole country moves on after such a disaster.
The story is told by Sora, and her point of view is quite straightforward. She wants to understand the time and find the truth. Relationships are not her priority, and we as readers don't have much time to get to know her friend and family. Sometimes it felt like the part, where are built bonds between characters, was omitted.
Catfish Rolling is written minimalistic and cleanly. The story is fast, but the storytelling is beautiful and sometimes cuts really deep. The whole idea is brilliant and I am grateful for the opportunity to review this book. Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus, Zephyr, for the eARC!

This book is unlike anything I’ve read before and I really enjoyed it. At the heart I of the story a girl who feels like she does not quite fit in- whilst this is due to her mixed heritage- the theme is one that many of us can identify with. She is dealing with loss, family responsibility and changing relationships.
What makes this book different is the second theme which runs throughout the book- the theme of time and what it means. This book really got me thinking and questioning the world around me- as an adult I could snot till very much appreciate the feelings of the teen character and I think this book would appeal to many over the age of 14.
The writing is beautiful, lyrical, calm and considered conveying an atmosphere of a Japan which on the surface is calm whilst cracks are appearing in society and time itself.

This was a very intriguing and thought provoking idea, which during current events probably has more impact than the author originally intended.

I just want to thank Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Catfish Rolling is a debut story set after an earthquake hits Japan and distorts time creating zones where it is either faster or slower than normal time. As a different reviewer stated; this book would be perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli!

I really enjoyed this book; I found it to be very charming, and it was filled with emotion. I will definitely keep an eye out for other books by Clara Kumagai!

Will also post on Amazon