Mysterious Setting

I think this book was good. Kazushige Abe is starting to become one of my favorites with the books I've read from them recently. This book was one of my favorite and I can't wait to see more

What a strange little book! Mysterious Setting read a bit like a fever dream and not for a minute did I know what was coming next. Darkly funny at times, and deeply sad the next, Kazushige Abe takes the reader on a surreal and thoroughly enjoyable journey.

Everything I wanted and expected from this book and more was contained inside. Shiori had, overall, a miserable life. But it was never because of her lack of trying for better, or for hoping for the best at all times. Even in the face of everything bad happening to her she remained optimistic, or found the best out of a situation. It was the outside world that couldn't handle her and made her life a misery. Other people taking advantage of her goodness, her naivety. I found this to be so tender, heartbreaking, sometimes funny but overall deeply deeply sad. I loved it.

Regular readers of contemporary Japanese fiction will know that it needs to be approached with an open mind and a readiness for the inevitable "differentness" in store.
Mysterious Setting by Kazushige Abe is certainly no different.

Shiori is an outcast,she loves to sing but she's tone deaf and others hate her singing,this makes her cry,and those same "others" find her cries soothing and pleasurable. Tormented by her sociopathic sister ,Nozomi ,and with nothing in her life going right she reaches 18 and moves to Tokyo with dreams of becoming a lyricist. Once in the big city nothing changes ,the easy-going and placid Shiori is exploited and taken advantage of.

The book is frequently surreal,and sometimes quite disturbing, much of it is a litany of misery as once again the lost and lonely Shiori trusts the wrong person and mutely almost blames herself. When things do change for her it's in a totally unexpected way and the book takes on a totally new direction.

This book is often surreal,sometimes horrifying,frequently sad but ultimately will make readers rethink everything they thought they knew about its troubled heroine.

This book is definitely up there as one of my new favourites! I loved the twists and turns and once I started reading it was hard to put down. Shiori doesn't have the best start to life with constantly being put down by the people around her. Still wanting to pursue her dreams she moves to Tokyo with the hope of a new start and to make new friends however her good nature and somewhat naivety leaves her in a similar position. Her positive outlook keeps her continually seeing the good in people which ultimately leaves her in an unexpected situation. Overall, I think Mysterious Setting is a great read and I will certainly be checking out more of Kazushige Abe's work in the future.

Fast-paced, surrealist and cruel at times, "Mysterious Setting" was a good start of Kazushige Abe's works for me.

I rooted for Shiori so much along the story. The characters were amazing and the story had the sort of irony I love.

Recommended.

This book was like a fever dream and I loved it! Abe is becoming an author to watch and I can't wait to see what they write next.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this novel.

Kazushige Abe is an incredible writer and has such a good grasp on the human condition. I loved this book so much, and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

The translation is amazing and the main character has so much depth, I was gripped from start to finish.

Also the cover is absolutely stunning!

I started it, but took a long break. I think I appreciated it more coming back to it.

This was a fun read. I appreciated the visual and engaging language. It felt like an A24 movie in the form of a book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

A strange Japanese translated fiction by award winning author Kazushige Abe (who is apparently the husband of Mieko Kawakami). Starts off like literary fiction and turns suddenly into suspense.

It’s difficult to describe this story, as it started out quite slow about the life of a bullied and abused girl who struggled to fit in socially. The first half was difficult for me to get through, but when the mysterious suitcase showed up in her life halfway through the book I read the rest of the book straight through. It was a strange plot, but I would recommend it as a quick and weird story for people who like authors like Sayaka Murata.

An old man's tale

An old man, alone in a park and combine them with a bunch of kids. Yes, things are bound to go wrong.

Well, first the kids wanted to tease the man and I have to admit, I almost went ballistic reading then. Before they knew it, the old man started telling them a story. It was a story of resilience and determination usually told by in Japanese tales. Shiori was dead set at becoming a troubadour. This timid, too trusting girl had a suspicion that something was wrong in her singing but she was so determined, to a point that she almost wanted to quit school.

But Shiori made a pledge to no longer sing when she was shamed by her ex-boyfriend. The good-for-nothing who was just after her money, made her realise that she was tone-deaf, so tone-deaf that her dominant sister Nozomi convinced her that she caused parakeets in a store to go crazy by her horrendous singing.

Despite this, Shiori left for Tokyo to pursue her dreams. Howevers, her pledge to not sing made things worse. Her determination to not sing made her an outcast and caused her to look for connections online. And this has led to another case of people taking advantage of her money since well, they believed that her family is the rich, rural type of people.

Until a mysterious looking bag was left by one of her online connections. This was followed up by three emails with instructions to now cause damage to the city. It then led to a field becoming so barren that the government left it alone.

Well, allegedly because the only witness to this story was the old man.

I have very strong feelings for Shiori-Nozomi dynamic. Sometimes I think Nozomi was right for being domineering as Shiori was too trusting but sometimes I feel like Nozomi was too much. Ouh yes, and Shiori was too trusting. This actually set the tone for the story. You have no idea how many times I want to scream to Shiori for yearning too much for connection.

The story took me on a lot of turns starting from the park to the old man and of course, conspiracy theory. I like how the story was focused on Shiori and her family background and wealth were just in the background. It was there but it was not glaring and it was pulled out at convenient times.

I was not a big fan of conspiracy theories so this arrangement kind of suited me well. Shiori's yearning for connection, just like those felt by those on Netflix Swindler, made me realise it can never be a good thing. Things will never go well if we try to hard.

If there is one thing I want to highlight, the inflexibility of certain people in a certain culture. The policeman was just one of the examples of how people can be inflexibile. Sure, the bag was not a stolen item or sort but isn't it just good sense for the police to help the citizen check if everything is fine with the bag?

The train conductor was not flexible too but well, people have to work I guess.

I know some stories can get lost in translation but Mysterious Setting was translated just right for Kazushige Abe. I can feel Shiori's timidness, Nozomi's harshness and all through the journey of hiding the bag? I felt all of that.

Not going to lie, I actually want to know more of what Shiori talked with the bag. It felt as if the bag can influence Shiori. I know I would hate that since it will make Shiori's character weaker but well, the heart wants what the heart wants.

Suffice to say, I cannot wait for this book to come out.

Synopsis: Shiori is a young woman who has always known she wanted to be a troubadour, a musician who sings about the beauty of the world. However there is one problem, Shiori is completely tone-deaf and her singing causes pain to everyone who hears it. When she turns 18 Shiori moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting and accidentally falls in with a bad crowd. It is one of these new friends who leaves Shiori a unique gift that could lead to explosive results.

My Thoughts: Mysterious Setting is possibly the most shocking introduction I have had to an author. I am using the word shocking here positively and negatively. The first two-thirds of this book are difficult to read. Not because of the writing, or the excellent translation. Instead, it is difficult because the character of Shiori is consistently abused and taken advantage of on every page. At times I felt guilty for continuing to read about her misfortune and doing nothing to stop it. I wanted to reach through the page and stop the people who hurt Shiori, and try to warn her before she gets into another bad situation. These visceral emotions only speak to the excellent characters that Kazushige Abe has written. At the 65% mark, this book takes an explosive turn that I would have never expected. I won’t talk too much about it, but it turned this into a fantastic story that made Shiori’s pain mean something.

Overall, reading Mysterious Setting was emotionally impactful and exhilarating. I highly recommend this book.

Mysterious Setting is a dark comedy recounted by a person who heard a story from a stranger in a park. This unnamed narrative follows Shiori, a young girl who dreams of becoming a troubadour but discovers she's tone-deaf and shifts her focus to becoming a lyricist. Her journey takes a mysterious turn when she acquires a strange suitcase.

Shiori is portrayed as sweet, empathetic, and gullible. Her passion for singing about the world remains strong despite her obstacles, particularly her strained relationship with her sister, Nozomi. Nozomi's harsh treatment of Shiori borders on cruelty, yet their connection is complex, resembling the dynamics of an evil soap opera mother-in-law. They have a complex dynamic that is puzzling in real life.

Throughout the novella, Shiori faces emotional abuse and social isolation but maintains an unwaveringly positive outlook on life that's both inspiring and perplexing. The ending was quite emotional and dramatic, leaving you questioning Shiori's mental well-being long after you've turned the last page.

Despite its shortness, the novella captivates you from the start, seamlessly transitioning from literary fiction to suspenseful storytelling as Shiori encounters the enigmatic suitcase. The narrative's unexpected twists, well-paced plot, and skilful translation add to its poetic flow, making it a super engaging read. While I enjoyed the novella's immersion into Kuzushige Abe's storytelling, I found certain elements unsettling, particularly Shiori's continuous victimization and the ambiguity surrounding her character's mental state. However, these aspects also added depth to the narrative.

Overall, 'Mysterious Setting' serves as a wonderful introduction to Kuzushige Abe's work. I recommend it to readers looking for an exhilerating and bizaare read. Also, finding out he's married to Mieko Kawamaki was a shock to me. I've been wanting to read her books for a while now, this has motivated me to dive into both their books sooner.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC and for giving me a chance to review this book.

If you are looking for a weird girl book, then this is for you. The story follows Shiori as she navigates her early adult life. We see the relationship she has with her sister and how they have a peculiar codependency. I found their relationship particularly interesting and slightly unsettling. Shiori isn’t aware of how others perceive her and we follow her through her first relationship and her starting college with this lack of awareness. I won’t spoil the twist but the last third of the book had me on the edge of my seat compelled to know more.

This is a story within a story. Kazushige Abe invites readers to follow him through a fun house of dark mirrors and comedic twists. When you read this book it's best to leave expectations behind and just let Kazushige Abe take you through.

Shiori is a young girl who is figuring out the world. She is naive, optimistic and always trying in a world that is destined to weigh her down. She dreams of becoming a troubadour but her dreams are greatly squashed when she realizes she is tone-deaf. Upon the death of her beloved pet store parakeets, Shiori is convinced she is the cause and swears to make things right. While studying to become a lyricist (the next best thing after a troubadour), Shiori inherit a mysterious piece of luggage. It is with this mysterious suitcase that Shiori becomes the person she was destined to become.

I rated this book four stars for one reason. Spoiler: In the beginning of the book there is, in my opinion an unneccassary (not developing the plot what so ever) inclusion of sisters kissing. Abe uses characters in "Mysterious Setting" as tools and I didn't understand the function of these details.

Thank you NetGalley for supplying readers with this book and thank you Pushkin Press for offering this book!

A crazy book which I don't think I really got but I enjoyed it a lot. Mysterious Setting follows a young school girl who is completely tone-deaf but loves to sing. When she has her heart broken by her first boyfriend who breaks the news to her that she is an awful singer, she moves away to college and becomes tied up with a really strange group of people that are in a band and she ends up in the most crazy and desperate situation ever that I was just not expecting.

This author has some really wild ideas but I am glad I liked this one a lot more than their other book I read. They are really good and building tension and taking a story to the places you would least expect it to go. I really enjoy the dark themes that this little book explored and how it was just a complete mystery what was going to happen or come next. I don't think this book will be for everyone with how strange it feels, but I do think that's a trademark for the author and it sometimes really works and sometimes doesn't. It worked really well here, though. Really kept me entertained and the writing was quite fresh and addictive.

I think this book is one of the very interesting books I've read this year. It really hooked me in and the more I read it the more I wasn't able to put it down.

At first I almost didn't find the enjoyment, to be honest. But the more the story goes, it became more and more interesting that I became to love the characters. And eventually, the story itself. I really liked how it unfolded. It was a little bit slow and it feels like you don't where this would take you, but then at the end, everything suddenly make sense. It feels like everything that happened in the earlier part of the book is a way to support the ending. Also this book is one of those with no plot and just vibe that recently I found to be quite relaxing to read because you don't have to think — just enjoy it. I have such a pleasant time reading this book, and I became attached to it.

The story itself is about Shiori who is tone-deaf but has a big dream to be a lyricist. She considered herself as a troubadour, and even when her sister Nozomi trying to wake her up from her dream, she kept going. One thing, though. To me, she's a pretty naive kind of person and for many times, people took advantage from her. Her life felt like not going anywhere. It felt like her path is not to be a troubadour who doesn't sing. Like I said. When you think this book is not that captivating, something happened and it suddenly suck you in.

This book made me feel annoyed, disguted, and sad but all in a good way. There are some point where I can't stand the characters' behaviours, but the story became so much interesting that you can forget all those feelings, at least for me. It's a little bit of comic, too, that I actually found myself asking why some scenes happened.

Anyway, this book is very enjoyable for me and I hope anyone would feel the same as well.

Thank you for NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the DRC. The book is now out, so go check it!

'Mysterious Setting', by Kazushige Abe, is a bizarre, shocking and entertaining novel.

It's about completely tone-deaf Shiori who dreams of becoming a musician and a lyricist. She's a bit of an outcast, and she struggles fitting in with her family and peers. She has a disturbing relationship with her sister, Nozomi, who is very abusive and cruel to Shiori.
At the age of 18 she moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting but falls in with a bad crowd.
Shiori is a frustrating character to read about. She has no self awareness, she's extremely gullible and easily taken advantage of.
The story is captivating, unsettling and suspensful. The second-hand embarassment you'll feel while reading about Shiori's life will make you so uncomfortable. It's easily one of the weirdest novels I've read this way, but in a good way.
'Mysterious Setting' is a great introduction to Kazushige Abe's work.

Mysterious Setting (March 2024) by Kazushige Abe and translated by Michael Emmerich is a weird one. An unnamed narrator at a park tells the story of Shiori, a tone-deaf self-declared troubadour who loves to sing but is actually terrible at it.

Despite countless discouragement and criticism, most especially from her sister Nozomi, Shiori is determined to make her musical dream come true. She moves to Tokyo to pursue songwriting instead.

She soon becomes socially alienated as she tries to navigate life in the big city. People take advantage of her naivety and social awkwardness. It's no fun, actually, I find some scenes abusive, but Shiori continues with her (overly?) optimistic outlook in life. As a reader, I'm left questioning her mental health. She annoys me but at the same time, I sympathise with her.

The story has an unexpected and dark turn of events, and the ending is full of emotions. Don't want to reveal too much because this is a considerably short book. I didn't think I would enjoy this book much, but enjoyed it, I did. Mysterious Setting is listed as 'absurdist fiction', and I totally get why. It definitely fits in the genre.

“…she hoped that one day, through her singing, she would dissolve completely into nature, and then she would watch over people of the world as they lived their lives in peace.”

Kazushige Abe’s novel is about Shiori’s passion for music. She wants to sing however she’s been told she is tone-deaf so she settles on becoming a lyricist instead. Her life story is told through the troubled relationships she’s had in her past that lead towards cruel treatment. Her fate was one no one would have predicted.

This was such an unusual novel. I loved how Shiori’s life story is told. She may not be in the history books however her role in history is important.

Shiori has been an outcast her entire life that lead to the unfortunate fate of being taken advantage. Part of this is why it was a heartbreaking read. She is so focused on her passions she can’t see the fact that she is being wronged.

This was at times a funny but moving story that had me hooked from the beginning.

In spite of initial misgivings, I ended up gripped by this absurdist and fantastical tale of a young woman who remains optimistic in spite of her miserable life. It is a tale of naivety, manipulation and bullying, of perseverance and sacrifice. Shiori, our heroine, is let down by her family and the people she puts her trust in. Her dreams are constantly dashed. If she sings she believes people and birds die. Every relationship is doomed.

Somehow her dreams never come true, partly because they are unrealistic. She fails to make friends wherever she goes. As her abusive sister Nozomi points out repeatedly, she is incapable of reading other people and is constantly being manipulated by others. This continues when she moves to Tokyo to study songwriting. She finally makes two friends online, then meets one of them in real life, where she finds herself once again being taken advantage of by his band members. After a final act of absurd and shocking betrayal two thirds through the book, both the story and Shiori grow wings. Forced to take her life into her own hands in the most extreme circumstances, she is supported once again by her other online friend Z. And as we return to the old man in the park, who we met in the first chapter, we finish as if we have listened to a Japanese fairytale.

But what did I think of it? I loved it, hated it, then it gripped me and I loved it again. It started almost as a fairytale, but turned into a nightmare. Shiori frustrated me, her tale of misery dragged on too long. I wanted her to find redemption, to make friends, to find a way to make herself fit in with others or to find her tribe. The author had something entirely different in mind and then I was scared it would turn into horror. It didn’t, thank goodness. What a rollercoaster ride of a book!

It would not surprise me in the least to find this on next year’s International Booker Prize longlist.

Disclaimer: This is my unbiased opinion after reading the book. Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for a chance to read a free digital ARC.

I haven't read Kazushige Abe before, and now I am definitely going to look forward to his books. This was a strange book, but I really liked it.
The way Abe builds the story and the ideas that he has executed with this book is amazing!!

“Mysterious Setting” is a novel by Kazushige Abe, a pre-eminent contemporary writer from Japan1. The book is translated by Michael Emmerich1. Here’s a brief summary:

The novel is a madcap, darkly comic story about the strange fate of a tone-deaf girl named Shiori who just wants to sing12. Despite being completely tone-deaf, Shiori is determined to live a life dedicated to music12. When her dominant older sister, Nozomi, forces Shiori to accept that her wild singing provokes only revulsion, she decides to forge a career as a lyricist instead12. At eighteen, she moves to Tokyo to pursue her dream12. Isolated and struggling in this unfamiliar city, Shiori seeks connection online, where her trusting outlook leaves her vulnerable to exploitation – with potentially explosive results12.

This page-turning literary fiction from a Japanese star is perfect for fans of the wild worlds and unforgettable creations of Mieko Kawakami and Sayaka Murata

One of those too-rare books that manages to be absolutely absurd and deeply moving at the same time. I loved it entirely and will be recommending it unequivocally to my reader-friends.

I've read a few Japanese books recently, each one really different, but enjoyable in their own way. This one was no exception, but I'm really struggling to describe it or why I liked it - maybe that's part of its attraction as its so genre defying and genuinely odd!
I can only recommend people read it for themselves!
Congratulations to the translator who made complex ideas easily readable in English
Thank you to netgalley and Pushkin Press for an advance copy of this book

this was so deeply upsetting and silly at the same time ? I loved this little book .
Thank you for the eArc .

Published in Japan in 2006; published in translation by Pushkin Press on July 2, 2024

Kazushige Abe’s 2006 novel tells the story of a teenage girl who finds meaning in her brief life that she was denied when she realized she would never be a troubadour. Shiori had her heart set on being a troubadour ever since she looked up the word and decided that it described the life she wanted to live. It turned out to be a poor choice for a girl who is tone deaf and afraid to compose lyrics that don’t capture her true emotions as fully as the sounds that her audiences interpret as screeches. Maybe she's a young Yoko Ono.

The narrator learns Shiori’s story from an old man in a park. The narrator returns repeatedly until the old man brings the story to a resolution.

Shiori was tormented by her older sister’s brutal honesty. Her sister recognized that Shiori’s first boyfriend was only with her because she paid for his CDs when they went shopping.

Shiori shopped for cat food at a pet store. She became captivated by the parakeets. The birds seemed to be upset by her singing, although Shiori thought they were encouraging her. Shiori blames herself when things do not go well for Japanese birds.

Shiori makes no friends at music school (she refuses to sing or to compose lyrics) so she begins to correspond with random pen pals. One is a Peruvian drummer who invites her to hear his band. The other band members quickly realize that they can take advantage of Shiori’s generous and gullible nature. The Peruvian takes the story in a different direction when he entrusts Shiori with a suitcase nuke — or maybe it’s just a suitcase.

Shiori is a lonely teen who has no talent for making friends. Even her family abandons her. But Shiori is true to herself. While the inclinations to which she is true might be unwise, Shiori will win hearts for standing her ground.

Mysterious Setting is odd and unpredictable, qualities that make the story a pleasure to read. Shiori is initially incapable of recognizing her faults and then is unable to stop blaming herself for them. There’s some of that in most of us, although Shiori’s tendency to take those qualities to an extreme generates the story’s dark humor.

The end of the old man’s story tests the boundaries of plausibility, but this isn’t a story the reader is meant to believe. Absurd situations fuel its humor while the dark ending makes Shiori even more likable.

RECOMMENDED

I loved this story. It was well written, intriguing, and fun. You never know what is about to happen, as is often the case in the Japanese fiction I've read, and I love the mystery.

A compelling exploration of resilience and the pursuit of passion in the face of adversity. Shiori's determination to carve out her identity in the competitive music industry, despite her struggles and the challenges imposed by her sister, makes for a relatable and inspiring journey. The novel delves into the complexities of self-discovery, vulnerability, and the sometimes harsh realities of seeking connection in a bustling city like Tokyo. Readers who appreciate character-driven narratives with emotional depth will find themselves captivated by Shiori's story, as it highlights the universal quest for belonging and the courage it takes to follow one's dreams, no matter the odds.