My thanks to Scribe U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida’ by Clarissa Goenawan in exchange for an honest review.

This is an exquisitely crafted novel set in Japan, which focuses upon the mysterious suicide of a young woman.

It is April 1990 and college sophomore Miwako Sumida is dead. Three people close to her are seeking to understand the reasons why. This novel has three parts, each focusing on one of these characters, reliving their interactions with Miwako in the past as well as exploring their present as they seek to come to terms with her death.

First is Ryusei, who has always loved her and follows Miwako’s trail to the remote Japanese village where she took her life. The next is Chie, Miwako’s best friend at school, who accompanies Ryusei on his pilgrimage. Meanwhile, Fumi, Ryusei’s sister, remains at home. She had employed Miwako for a time and felt close to the troubled young woman. Yet Fumi has her own carefully guarded secrets.

Over the course of the novel Clarissa Goenawan explores the kind of secrets that can torment a soul as well the wide range of responses to death and bereavement, especially the confusion that can occur in those grieving when someone they love has committed suicide. It’s a difficult subject though I felt that she approached it with sensitivity.

In addition, during the course of the novel she touches on subjects such as bullying and abuse as well as identity and the bonds of family and friendship.

The novel has a mystical quality with visions, dreams, and spirits playing a role in the narrative as well as an underlying wistfulness, expressed by the Japanese concept of mono no aware, defined as a gentle sadness and empathy for the transient nature of all things.

Clarissa Goenawan’s prose is elegant and her vivid descriptions completely transported me from the streets of Tokyo to the tiny mountain village with its surrounding woodlands and shrine to the goddess of earth.

It’s a wonderful, gentle novel that deserves a wide readership. I am now very keen to read her debut novel, ‘Rainbirds’.

Very highly recommended.

Miwako Sumida is dead. We follow her life told through the POV of three of her closest friends. How well do you truly know someone, when even after their death you still struggle to piece together the pieces of their life.
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I was intrigued throughout the story, wanting to find out what happened. Ryusei, who loved her and followed her last steps to a remote village looking for answers. Chie, her bestfriend who knew a hidden side of Miwako. Fumi, who took Miwako under her wing while harbouring her own secrets. There’s little hints here and there, but i was still quite shocked once it was revealed.
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I might have preferred if the story was written in alternating chapters rather than 3 parts. The third part, seemed to tie everything into a neat little bow and touched on magical realism (which I didn’t see coming) but it could have been done with a little more subtly.

Nonetheless, this is a story about death and grief. You find out you don’t ever truly know a person, even when they’re alive and definitely not anymore when they’re gone. It also touches on sexuality, gender issues and sexual assault. Also the consequences of your actions, how just one decision in your life could set course on a completely different way than intended.

Book Review for The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan!

*TW for suicide, sexual assault and bullying*

This beautiful book follows people from Miwako's life in the aftermath of her suicide.
We hear from so many different people in this book, Miwako's friends, Chie and Ryusei, Rysusei's sister, Fumi.
Through their accounts of life with Miwako, we got to know and connect with her. Miwako comes so alive through their stories that I often forgot she was no longer alive and had my heart broken over and over.
A standout point from this book was how each character had their own story wrapped up beautifully at the end.
I liked the element of representation in this book, I liked the writing style and the journeys these characters made throughout.
A 4 star read for me that I would definitely recommend!
This book will be released September 29th!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribe Publications for this ebook in exchange for review!

‘A year after the first time I met Miwako, I attended her wake.’

When Miwako takes her own life, her friends want to understand why. She had only been part of their lives for a brief period, and none of them knew her very well. Miwako was reserved to the point of social awkwardness and did not reveal much about her past.

Who was Miwako Sumida? Ryusei, the boy who loved her (although Miwako rebuffed him whenever he mentioned romance) and her friend Chie travel to the remote village where Miwako spent her last days. They hope to find answers and they will, just not necessarily the answers they thought they were looking for.

Meanwhile, Ryusei’s sister Fumi looks after Miwako’s cat and thinks about her own relationship with Miwako.

As the story unfolds, we learn more about Miwako, Ryusei, Chie and Fumi. Each of these characters has their own story, each story involves secrets, each life has layers of complexity.

‘There are two types of farewells: the expected and the unexpected.’

I was gradually drawn into this story, curious to learn more about Miwako. Both Chie and Ryusei know about part of Miwako’s life. Together, at the rural medical clinic in the remote village, they will make sense of what they know. I kept reading, wondering about the weight of expectations (especially on Miwako and Fumi) and the role of the supernatural. Relationships are important, as is trust. Miwako has helped Chie but is unable to allow Ryusei to help her. And Fumi has her own battles. Acceptance and forgiveness are both important.

This is a story to read slowly, to think about and perhaps to revisit. After I finished, I added Ms Goenawan’s first book ‘Rainbirds’ to my reading list.

Highly recommended.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

My thanks to Netgalley and Scribe Publications for early access to this book (UK edition).
Another great read.
I like this little piece of literature and it definitely had part of that Murakami feel to it (mainly of his more contemporary stuff) as this is a beautiful combination of slice of life with very light elements of magical realism (mainly towards the end of the novel).
We are following three perspectives in this one as they try to come to terms with the suicide of Miwako Sumida, a mysterious young woman that they've all gotten close to at some point. Not only do we gradually come to get to know Miwako throughout this novel, but we also get a close look into the lives and past of those three friends.
Another nice element I wasn't expecting was that we get some LGBTQIA+ representation in the form of a transgender character included in this one. Fumi, is a transwoman and sister to Ryusei from who we first are following this story. The bond between the two is just gorgeous as they've gone through a lot together. They lost their parents young so Fumi has had to take over the parental role quite young and they lived together in an orphanage for quite some years. They have a very strong bond and loved seeing how they supported each other, protected each other, while still giving each other the necessarily space when needed.

The perfect world of Miwako Sumida starts with her death. Miwako has committed suicide and her two friends journey up to the place a faraway village all the way from Tokyo. Ryu has been in love with Miwako since the day he knows her but Miwako has always wanted them to remain friends as she doesn’t want to ruin their friendships with four others who are also couples.

Although the story mostly revolves around Miwako, the author tells stories of Fumi, Ryu and Chie in such a brilliant way that I was so hooked into the book. The story itself is something I thoroughly enjoyed and totally loved. The characters have such unique personalities, identities and I don’t know how to explain but I found all the characters so unique and so well written. The book is simply written with a bit of suspense and would be a wonderful easy I quick read.

This is the type of deceptively quiet Japanese novel that I really love. It reminded me in places of Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, which is praise indeed!
We learn about spiky but lovable Miwako and her entanglements with her class mates, her family and her new friend / lover / boyfriend / acquaintance (question mark?) Ryusei and Ryusei's older sister Fumi.
We come to love each character as we are inevitably drawn towards the tragedy that is Miwako taking her own life, and we go on to see the characters after her passing and how they process the grief and the world now.

I really really like this book! 4 stars

Written with attention and care to detail that engages beyond a normal level, this book has the sheer power to draw your full notice away from anything else. Beautiful and powerful, it really is a must read for 2020. As the characters piece together what they know - and more importantly, what they think they know - Miwako becomes so real you can almost feel her in the room.

A quiet and insightful reflection on suicide, loss and the effects of sudden death on a number of different characters, this book is a delightfully deep introspective.

Miwako Sumida is a charismatic character whose death is at the centre of the book, but there are other deaths and other relationships that are beautifully explored throughout the novel.

Family bonds and losses are explored, and many other issues such as bullying at school and growing up in contemporary Japan are covered in detail. The characters of Ryusei, Fumo and Chie are lightly but cleverly drawn, and you really feel for the situations they find themselves in.

Miwako haunts the book and provides an incredibly powerful feeling of stillness and calm at the centre of a full-blown character storm, while the ending is just about perfect.

There was so much that irritated me about this book that I don’t know where to start. Before I start on why it irritated me so much, a quick precap. Miwako Sumida has hanged herself (not a spoiler). The why-dunnit, such as it is, is narrated in three sections: through her would-be boyfriend Ryushi, her best friend Chie, and her employer Fumi-nee respectively.

So a young woman dies, her friends need to make sense of her death, and so try to discover her dark secrets. So the story is Twin Peaks really. A rainbow-flagged Murakami-flavoured remix of Twin Peaks in fact, which should therefore have been absolutely amazing. Compared to Laura Palmer’s dark secrets, Miwako Sumida’s are more of a pale beige. So don’t get excited about any big reveals.

The book’s themes and tropes are so Murakami-esque I was embarrassed for the author: disappearance of troubled woman, weird sexual fantasies, odd health institutions in the middle of nowhere, ominous forest, unrequited love, realising you never really knew someone until it’s too late. There’s even a missing cat. OK, no wells, jazz, spaghetti recipes or laundry, but you get the idea.

It would take too long to list all the things that irritated me so here are some of the main ones. None huge in themselves, I admit, but they mounted up to a big cumulative irk.

If you’re going to tell the same story from three different perspectives, a) it needs to be a good story, and b) each retelling needs to present things differently and/or develop the narrative or characters, or something. But it wasn't, and it didn't.

If two of the three main characters in those narratives - Ryushi and Chie - are utterly devoid of personality, then the central character, although dead, had better be interesting. Oh wait. She’s deeply dull too, and even her spite and supposedly dark secrets fail to spark any engagement. But somehow we’re meant to believe that she’s fascinatingly complex and a joy to all who knew her. Well show, don’t tell, I say.

If you’re going to include a MTF trans character you don’t have to refer to their gender identity and uber-femininity every single time they’re mentioned. It was signalled loud and clear that There’s Something About Fumi-nee so no big surprise there. She is the only vaguely interesting character in the book, but her gender is laboured to death. It felt immature and try-hard.

The writing is pedestrian, the dialogue wooden, the pace sluggish, the psychology superficial and incoherent. The weird sex fantasy, um… well all I’ll say is elderly laughing gnome incubus and we’ll just leave it there.

Oh, and after 20-odd chapters of plodding banality you don’t just suddenly chuck in some magic realism at the end. Annoying and silly.

How do you find happiness while staying true to yourself? This book is not so much about Miwako, but more about the three narrators’ journeys. Three people that all happen to know that one girl: a girl that is unique and renders other people colorless, but also a girl with a painful past. Together they tell the whole story of Miwako Sumida. But does anyone know the real her?

They all have their own story to tell. When Ryusei wants to find out why she killed herself, Chie tells him that there is no use in chasing a shadow. Still, they take the train to the mountain village where Miwako volunteered to chase her past in a place that feels like a different world. On their journey, they meet some challenges when it gets dark and the forest seems to invite them to stay: so they can be free and no longer need to carry this burden. The description of their visit to a remote (religious) site in Japan is on point, I certainly felt like that at times while traveling in Japan (Yakushima comes to mind).

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is dialogue-heavy and easy to read. Clarissa Goenawan is certainly skilled at writing dialogues; they read very naturally. The characters are pleasant and could be your everyday neighbors (if you live in Japan). There aren’t too many characters or references to things you could or should know about. Skillfully and slowly Goenawan unravels the motives behind the things Miwako did.

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a solid YA novel with supernatural elements woven into the story. A book about people finding the strength to be who they are so they can stop pretending and accept themselves for who they are. Clarissa Goenawan doesn’t shy away from discussing gender dysphoria, bullying, and abuse.

The characters each tell their own story with a unique voice. While they do this from a youngster’s point of view, they don’t sound untried. Their sorrows are described well, but not in a way that makes you feel sad; for that the narrative is too distant. This story is not about any of them in particular, but about the whole and the impact of one girl on the people in her lives.

Goenawan's prose is smooth and flowing and the premise of the novel intriguing and Murakami-esque, however, the story did not delve deep into the characters' internal processes after the fact of Miwako's passing, it hinged more on revealing the whudonit behind the tragedy rather than ascending to the heights of its emotional potential or even fleshing out the characters themselves.

I see there's a lot of love for this book which I can understand but sadly don't share. For me, this comes over as too slick and plastic and it's only the cool tone of the narrative which keeps this from turning into fevered melodrama. With lots of high emotion on the surface, there's no work for the reader to do. And that development towards the end... really? It seems like the ultimate 'let me explain everything to you' ending. The writing is fluent, for sure, but I found the whole mode of telling to be simplistic where I wanted complexity.

A perfect glimpse into Miwako's world, this is such a heartfelt and poignant book, with the tenderness and beauty that I associate with the best in contemporary japanese writing.

The story is split into three main parts, with each part narrated by a different integral character, all by people who were important in Miwako's life. I really enjoyed this approach as it illustrates how different relationships bring different things out in us.

Although this is a simple tale about the end of one young woman's life, it is so much more than that. An exploration of life and the way others see us and more importantly how we see ourselves. It really is a special and tender tale.

Goenawan is often compared to Murakami and I can see why, her writing style and the characters that almost seem without any emotion or depth certainly reminded me of Murakami. Ultimately, this is also the reason why I did not love this book. I never felt any connection to the characters or the story, yet, I appreciate that this is most likely a deliberate form choice. Alas, this type of form does not work for me. The thing that will stick with me the longest is the portrayal of trans women and I pondered the differences: The way trans women are portrayed would be a big "no" in the west and I wonder how trans people in Japan would feel about this novel. Is this different? That's certainly something that will linger in my mind when I probably forget the rest of the book soon.

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is the story of a young women who decides to end her own life. Those who were closest to her are left confused, upset, hurt and left wondering why. In the final few months of her life Miwako left Tokyo to spend some time volunteering in a remote village, but her decisions and reasons leading up to her death are a mystery. Who was Miwako, and what was she running from?

I am so sad that I have finished this book because I just want to be able to experience reading it for the first time all over again. It was a beautiful slow-moving novel, quiet and soft in its approach and written wonderfully. The topics covered in this novel (which could be triggering) were handled delicately and the characters felt so real that it was masterful in its delivery.

There is a mystery hidden in this book, but it is much more than that alone. It is a deep character study, with a focus on grief, hurt and how a person decides to deal with their emotions in life. It was so clever and moving and I can't help but want more, even though it was the perfect length and ended at just the right time.

I cannot stress how magical and wonderful a book this is. It's peaceful, serene, sad and moving all at once.
I have found a new favourite book of all time in this novel and I cannot wait to pick up more from Clarissa Goenawan.

After college student Miwako Sumida commits suicide, Ryusei (the boy who loved her), his sister Fumi (who has secrets of her own) and Chie (Miwako's best friend) all have to come to terms with and try to move on from her sudden loss. And between the three of them, a portrait of a complicated individual emerges; Can you ever truly know another person?
The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida is a beautifully written novel - melancholy and wistful without descending into bad melodrama, and tender and funny without being overly cheesy - with characters I loved to spend time with.
Thank you to NetGalley for approving me for an ARC in exchange for review.

This is a beautiful novella - exploring the suicide of eponymous character Miwako Sumida through the eyes of a young male friend, a high school best friend, and the young man's sister. Each character has some part of the story - in the end I felt I was less interested in Miwako and more in some of the characters - Fumi especially is an interesting character and her part - the last one in the book - was just perfect.
It's beautifully written - it felt clear, poetic but not lyrical. I loved it.

The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida explores a story of suicide in a beautiful and relatable way. Miwako Sumida, an odd, but clearly wonderful human commits suicide and leaves three friends who are utterly confused. The three sections of the book explore their reactions and relationships with Miwako. It is well written, sad, yet compelling, and pulls you along in the grief of the people who loved her. It also covers mental illness in a tryly compassionate manner. I also appreciate it for its twists and turns throughout.

This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

“The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida” by Clarissa Goenawan.

This book took me for surprise. I was expecting it to be an ordinary “Japanese style” novel, but it was so extraordinary. One of the deepest books that I’ve read this year, full with psychological factors of human lives.

Book starts with girl committing suicide and events that happened prior that. There is 3 main characters Miwako, Ryu and Fumi. All of the have some weight from the past weighing the , and along the book they are trying to deal with their inner demons and things/people that have caused them. Sometimes all you need to be happy is to find peace within yourself.

I’m rating this book 4/5 🌟. I loved the way author kept intrigue along the book. Some things were slightly predictable, but most of them were total page turners and so unexpected. I believed author all the way through the book. This book is one of those rare finds where author makes you feel that you’re involved in the story and you want to know more. It has got a lot of psychological factors involved too, personal data, family curses. It shows that there are some things out there that only ourselves can understand. This book makes you feel and things and the most important thing it shows how difficult sometimes is to live in our cruel world.