Ready to discover another great book for this 2021? Take a look…
The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina
Genre: Fiction
Source: Compulsive Readers
Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Manilla Press
Amazon, Hive
About The Book
We all have something to tell those we have lost . . .
On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.
When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box, and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . .
Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking…
My Thoughts
First of all I would like to say that I love the title of the book, mysterious and classic it makes you wonder about the story behind it… Will it be a sad or a sweet one? With a happy or a bittersweet ending? Of course, you’ll have to read the book if you want to know all of it!
What a beautiful book, full of little stories and bitter sweet moments, that makes the reader to remember the power of love, loss and friendship.
We all have someone that is not longer with us, can you imagine a phone box which allows you talk to them again? How far would you go to say the last words to your beloved one?
This is the story of Youri and Takeshi, they both lost someone in the 2011 tsunami and they are doing the pilgrimage to the phone both, they will have a connection in this grief and need to survive that will make the reader impossible to stop reading.
I can’t say that this is “happy book” but it’s full of hope and acceptance, is never easy to be the one that remains when your loved ones past away, and you’ll feel this sadness through all the story but never forget the memories you have, they are still here, to make you happy and remember forever the good moments.
This had been a delicate and special read, told with a special softness you’ll feel attracted to all the memories and stories told in the book, they will make you drop a tear but let you a smile on your face too.
Are you ready for “The Phone Box at the Edge of the World”?
About The Author
Laura Imai Messina has been living in Japan for the last 15 years and works between Tokyo and Kamakura, where she lives with her Japanese husband and two children. She took a Masters in Literature at the International Christian University of Tokyo and a PhD in Comparative Literature at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The Phone Box at the Edge of the World has been sold in 21 territories.
Varietats 