15 Dec / The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi, translated by Emily Balistrieri [in Booklist]
Reminiscent of Groundhog Day-like repetition, each chapter duplicates the same opening paragraphs, ending with the same “gross love language” (but watch for that perspective shift).
The intriguing premise is that an unnamed university junior in Kyoto reveals how he “accomplished absolutely nothing” in his first two years. Every time, he’s a “fresh-as-a-daisy-man” – a “new student walking through campus [who] gets club flyers thrust upon them.” Four flyers loom, “the Ablutions film club, a bizarre ‘Disciples Wanted’ notice, the Mellow softball club, and the underground organization Lucky Cat Chinese Food.”
Each chapter is a do-over that begins and ends with the protagonist as the same disgruntled junior who’s been abetted, misled, and ruined in varying situations by a recurring cast, including frenemy Ozu, upstairs “Master” Higuchi, older student Jogasaki (and his stolen love doll, Kaori), dental hygienist Hanuki, and sorta-love interest Akashi. His galaxy is his four-and-a-half-mat tatami room, which is both his escape and his prison.
A self-labeled “Morimi geek,” translator Emily Balistrieri (he/him, publishing under his birthname) meticulously deciphers the protagonist’s “‘rotten’ university student voice” for English readers.
YA/S – special interest: Teen anime aficionados will greatly appreciate the prose original that inspired the award-winning celluloid series of the same title.
Review: “Fiction,” Booklist, October 15, 2022
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2008 (Japan), 2022 (United States)