DO YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO FACE WHAT LIES BEYOND? Seventeen-year-old Suzume lives with her aunt in a quiet port town in Kyushu. One day, on her way to school, she runs into a young man searching for something and follows him to a ruin in the hills. But inside, all she finds is a single white door among the rubble. As if pulled by an invisible force, she reaches out to open it…and begins an epic journey across Japan connecting the past, present, and future. Follow Suzume’s adventure in this novelization of the acclaimed animated film Suzume, written by director Makoto Shinkai.
It is no secret that I will consume anything Makoto Shinkai creates, in any format I can find. I’ve been reading and watching his work for years, and Suzume is no different. Mark recently realised that the novelisation of Makoto Shinkai’s newest film has recently been released, and I immediately ordered it and picked it up as soon as it arrived.
Although Your Name is hard to beat in my eyes, I do really enjoy the story of Suzume and I found it very comforting to slip between these pages. I watched the film last year when it came out, and these stay so true to the story (I believe Shinkai writes them alongside the production of the films), that it almost felt like a comfort re-read.
The story of Suzume is pretty wacky, and is the oddest Shinkai story yet, with a talking chair being the main side character in the story. I definitely preferred the first half of this book, which is more grounded in real life than the second half. Although I don’t mind the wackiness of the second half, I do find it harder to relate to and didn’t enjoy it quite as much.
Reading this book definitely gave me a deeper understanding of the film and the emotional aspects of the grief this story represents. Although Your Name remains to be my favourite of Shinkai’s stories, I still enjoyed and appreciated being able to consume more of his work.
★★★★
4 out of 5 stars
-Beth
May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽
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