This has pretty prose and isn’t full of cliches. I care about the characters, but not enough to wade through the ponderous, philosophical musings. I was feeling pretty impatient until I got to the part where you learn she’s made a game for him. My enthusiasm lasted about three pages more of long-winded monologue. I stopped at 13%. Full disclosure, I have ADHD and don’t normally read literary fiction. The only reason I picked this up from NetGalley (thanks for the copy) was because the title made it sound like a sci-fi. I’m sure smarter, more patient readers would enjoy this slow-burn “mystery” that feels a lot like 13 Reasons Why. And why did he name the main character after himself? That seems a strange choice. (Or maybe it’s a pseudonym?) A bit pretentious for a first novel.

“Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa“ by Benjamin Constable is a novel of fiction about a deceased friend who leaves a kind of treasure hunt behind.

Writer Benjamin Constable, not to be confused with the author, is in need of a real life adventure. He also seems to go through life without observing much. He gets a sort of adventure when his best friend Tomomi “Butterfly” Ishikawa sends him a cryptic suicide note. In the days that follow, he discovers a trail of clues that he will use to learn more about his posthumous friend which will lead him to question how well he really knew her.

I like this book of a friend on a treasure hunt but the book has a manipulative heart to it. There’s some good ideas here, but the execution feels contrived and a bit melodramatic, and let’s not even mention the weird turns that happen.

This book was a little too weird for me, the scavenger hunt was interesting, but I still don't understand Butterfly.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. A friend is dead and Ben is now following clues she left behind in hopes that maybe she isn't dead, all while talking to an imaginary cat. It was a little too weird for my taste and didn't really come to a satisfying conclusion either. I felt as lost as the character did, so maybe it was a success.

There is no putting this book down. You open the first page and you're confused. You read more and you're still confused, but now curious. By the time you get to the premise of the novel, you realize the next several hours will be lost to these chapters. I like the humor between the lines, and the dark in the character's minds, and the light in their intentions.