This starts out a sad read so I highly recommend being in the right mindset when beginning it. If you can handle that mood of a book, the progress throughout is ultimately worth it. I look forward to reading future work by this author!

An Enticingly Great Read -- Three Days of Happiness

Author: Sugaru Miaki
Publisher: Yen Press
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Drama
Published: October 2020

Imagine this. You’re sitting at the back of the class, just right beside a window. Your teacher’s lecture is just passing above your head as your mind wanders outside. The warm ray of sunlight and the gentle breeze of the wind brushes your face. That’s a scene befitting of an anime, but it's also a scene that usually prompts the question like “How much does a human’s life cost?” It’s a question that is both shallow and heavy at the same time. It seems non-sensical, yet it also posits an answer. What if there really is a place that buys life spans? Not just illegal selling of organs or the like, but legitimate life spans?

Contains Spoilers

Discussion Time

Three Days of Happiness answers that question. Well, it least has an acceptable answer. The story revolves around an elementary boy who thinks he’s a cut above the rest. But as he grows up, he realizes that he’s not special. In fact, he’s not even average. The only thing he’s holding on is a promise he has made with a classmate during elementary. That is if they still are leftovers after ten years, they will be with each other. Being a leftover is indeed what he’s reduced to. However, his worthless life is about to take a drastic turn after learning of a place that will buy years of your life.

Why You Should Read Three Days of Happiness

1. Unique Plot

The real story starts when Kusunoki, the protagonist, sells thirty years of his life span for a mere ten thousand yen a year. What’s interesting is that the facility that buys lifespan weighs a person’s worth on how the people will live their lives. Miyagi, the person who has transacted and eventually becomes Kusnoki’s monitor, tells him that he is to live a worthless life, and his life is only priced at the lowest possible one. Kusunoki then bites the offer and sells his entire lifespan except for three months.

2. Unpredictable Ending

Kusunoki then roams around trying to figure out what he’s to do with the remaining time he has. He has created a bucket list. But as he ticks more of it, the more he realizes how worthless of a human being he is. Even halfway into the story, the ending still doesn’t make itself clear. There are a lot of ways the story could have ended, and it’s interesting to see it unveil. What’s more is that even though the ending is covered in fog, the story is too gripping to care about it.

3. Melancholic Read

Reading someone spends his last three months on this world isn’t something you should expect to be full of glee. At least, that’s not what you should expect when reading Three Days of Happiness. Kusunoki’s actions are interesting but somewhat inherently sad. Even though he does find good times here and there, just thinking that it’s his last spurt to live his life to the fullest is something that grabs your feet from being happy for him.

Final Thoughts

We don’t want to spoil much, but Three Days of Happiness is a masterpiece. The plot and the writing style are both top-notch and do the premise justice. It’s perfect for a goodnight read or a read while listening to the drops of rain hitting your window. Definitely, it’s a story that you should check out.

By: Christian Markle

It wasn't the greatest light novel I have ever read. It felt like the author wanted the book to have more poignancy, and emotional integrity than it did. An attempt at reaching the heights of a Makoto Shinkai movie fell flat.

It was an interesting book premise, if we were to place value on a human life, what would determine your value. The author went into how our personal opinions of self-value have the possibility to be vastly different from how someone else may value us, yet it felt like there was so much more the author could have done but didn't.

I felt the emphasis on the protagonists childhood friend that initially progressed the story was a 'heart puller' element attempted by the author that they lost interest in writing halfway through.

Twenty year old Kusunoki is a lifelong outsider and misanthrope. This caused him to be a bitter loner through his school years; and it caused him to become a bitter, solitary young adult. In the midst of a personal financial crisis, he is directed to a mysterious, unique business - one that will allow you to sell portions of your life. This parallels a lesson he had touched on in school - what monetary value can one honestly attach to a life? What is the value of a human?

Kusunoki sells all but three months of his life, and has to decide from there how best to spend it. He is also assigned a young monitor named Miyagi.

Trying to avoid spoilers where possible; I'll say that this is a work that is equal parts sad and hopeful. Kusunoki comes to realize that his past experiences, delusions of grandeur, and even the few relationships he had are not exactly ones he can revisit or rectify. Also, with little time left to live, there is no impetus to work towards a better tomorrow. Instead, he has to find a way to redefine himself from a new point, with only a three month lifespan ahead.

There's some deep, heavy material here. Once you get past the 'fantastical' element (the existence of a firm that deals in lifespans for cash), it opens the door for a bittersweet, affecting parable that never teeters into the pretentious or preachy. There are times you will hate the characters, and times you will root for them. This is the very essence of character development, and Miaki lavishes these two protagonists with plenty of it.

There are some character arcs and story lines which are fairly easy to map or predict, but Miaki keeps it fresh in how they pan out. Overall, it is a very satisfying and touching read.

This ARC was an uncorrected proof. There was no final cover, so I will just say I hope they use the original Japanese cover, which is very nice. There were perhaps one or two typos in this proof; I'm sure they'll be combed out by the time it hits the shelves.

The translation is smooth and engaging. The only thing I'd mention, and we see this from time to time in translations, is how to handle honorifics. Miyagi maintains a professional demeanor with Kusunoki in their dialogue, but it is jarring to see her keep referring to him as "Mr. Kusunoki". I don't have a copy of the original text, but I'm guessing she refers to him as "Kusunoki-san". Most light novel readers are familiar with basic Japanese honorifics, so my personal recommendation would be to leave it as that.

Thanks again to NetGalley for providing me the ARC for this touching work. Highly recommended.

I was expecting something a little different from this read, but overall, it was quite enjoyable. I must agree with another reviewer that it does start out quite sad, but the it just makes the rest of the book that much more rewarding. Thank you to Netgalley and YenPress for allowing me to read this!

If you can get through a rather depressing beginning 1/3 of the book, it is worth it. I was not a fan of the characters at the beginning of the book, wallowing in their own miseries and no redeeming qualities. Several times, I wondered how much of this negativity should I read before I stop and give this book a bad rating, then move it. But there was a turn and things slowly started moving in a different direction.

Kusunoki is down and penniless. He decides to sell 30 years of his pathetic life for a meager amount and now only has 3 months to live. Little does he know, in the short time he will find joy in many things in life.

(Some small spoilers below… just a warning)

Some of the things I liked about this book, stargazing and fireflies make me very happy! Just reading the characters experience them, developed a connection that overpowered the whole first 1/3 of the book. I enjoyed the vending machine pilgrimage, that was super creative and I understood completely the visual stimulation Kusunoki found in photographing them in their surroundings. It also was a humorous passion the he found in them. The Afterwards was also a great addition to the story; the reason why the author, Sugaru Miaki, wrote this novel. It helped me put the things more into perspective from the characters standpoints.

One thing I struggled with, besides the depressing first 1/3 of the book, was I didn’t realize the narrator of the story was a male until sometime in chapter 2. I thought it was a woman at first, not sure why. I was impressed how you could take a tragic situation,

Overall, an enjoyable read… if you stick with it! Thanks Yen Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book! I look forward to adding it to my library after its release.