Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime is a light novel by Mizuki Nomura. "Light novel" is a term used in Japan for short novels aimed at young adults, normally featuring "manga-style" illustrations. While not wildly popular in America, manga publisher Yen Press publishes several light novel series.
In this book, high school student Konoha is a gifted writer who once won a contest, becoming famous - too bad his pseudonym was a girl's name. Embarrassed, he wants to hide his writing talent, but that becomes impossible when he meets Tohko. Tohko is a book girl, a goblin that feeds on the written word. Her favorite thing to eat is handwritten stories, and she forces Konoha, the only other member of the literature club, to write them for her daily.
One day a fellow student, Chia Takeda, approaches the club and convinces Konoha to write love letters in her name. Thinking he'll help her find love, Konoha reluctantly agrees. But there's something suspicious about this relationship, and as new information crops up Konoha fears he'll learn too much, and won't be able to keep his own bad memories from surfacing.
Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime, Light Novel Published by Yen Press
Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime falls victim to many stereotypes common in manga, such as the cute but unrealistically clumsy girl, and the brittle classmate who can become quite flustered when caught unawares. Readers familiar with manga will likely roll their eyes at these things, but still accept them and move on; others may find these devices cheap.
Mizuki Nomura also seems to have little faith in her readers' ability to figure things out. Dialogue and description will lead readers to a conclusion about the characters or plot, but Nomura will then take another paragraph or two to explain what we've just figured out, wasting words and slowing down the pace. Pacing is also hurt by wordy over-explanations as the book girl Tohko expounds on literature or Konoha relates every one of his observations and revelations.
Even with the issues of characterization and pacing, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime is engaging. While at first seeming like a charming story about high school love, the story quickly becomes more mysterious. When it becomes clear that Takeda's love, Shuji, might not even exist, we wonder with Konoha what might have happened to him, and what Takeda's purpose really is. And even the stereotypical characterizations we scoffed at before might be more carefully placed than first believed, as Mizuki Nomura treats readers to one last twist.
The prose itself is easy to read, and despite the heavy backdrop - disconnected suicidal teenagers - most readers will find Book Girl relaxing. And it's a treat for literature nerds as Tohko goes on about her favorite books, from The Great Gatsby to romance authors like Barbara Cartland. In particular my interest was piqued by Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human, a book of particular importance to this novel's plot.
It's unfortunate that Konoha's own backstory of being a once-famous author isn't really looked at. Of course, this is only the start of a multi-volume series - there will be time for that in the future.
Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime by Mizuki Nomura
Despite some persistent foul ups, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime is an engrossing story that isn't much of a strain to go through. Readers who aren't already fans might be put off by some of the characters' over-the-top reactions, but book nerds will still get a kick out of it.
Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime gets 3/5.
- ISBN: 978-0-316-07690-6
- MSRP: $8.99 US / $10.99 CAN
- 196 pages
- Yen Press
- Released July 2010
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