This was a strange read, to put it mildly. You have a protagonist who was awfully determined pursue her dreams despite strong evidence that she was not suited for that career (is being a troubadour even a valid career choice in this day and age?). At the same time, she was constantly being taken advantage of by her friends and sister, and I don't know if she was written to be neurodivergent, but at some point I wondered, why didn't she fight back? Why didn't she see that Nozomi's actions were too much? Or that maybe you shouldn't keep lending people money?

Anyway, I did not really enjoy this book. My issue was that it was too repetitive, at least for the first 30% of the book. Like, yes, I understood that Shiori wanted really badly to be a troubadour. Yes, I know she was terrible at singing. Also, yes, I can see that Nozomi was horrible, annoying, and sadistic. Having to read the verbal abuse Nozomi heaped on Shiori was not pleasant to begin with, and it got tiring when it went on and on and on. The dialoges (monologues? Shiori rarely had any rebuttals or replies) were also irksome, often coming in long paragraphs from Nozomi. I was like, shut up, woman!

As I've mentioned the issue was also that Shiori rarely fought back. At most you'll get a soft protest from her. Then you'll see this cycle of abuse and exploitation continue in Tokyo, and I was just really bored by then.

It's not explicitly stated that Shiori is neurodivergent, but that's not even the point; it was just uninteresting to see her being used again and again and again. Shiori herself demonstrated no growth or any significant change. This went on for 50% the book and I just wanted the story to move on, like, is there more to this story than just watching Shiori get bullied?

Thankfully the second half of the book picked up. There was a bit about espionage and top secret government projects, and it got me wondering who was telling the truth. Can Manuel, her online friend who showed her kindness, be trusted? Or should we take the word of the bully Tsugumi?

It was interesting how all of a sudden, Shiori found herself responsible for the lives of millions of people. I personally enjoyed the way she went about deciding what to do, what her priorities were, and how she could save everyone and everything (including animals and plants!). This is where her kind and considerate personality shone, and it got me rooting for her.

There was also a funny, rather Kafka-esque sequence when Shiori tried to go to the police. I find that segment quite amusing, and it was also ostensibly the only part in the book that made me smile. The ending left me rather sad, though, although it linked up rather nicely to the beginning.

Overall, this book was an 'okay' read even though I struggled with the first half of it. If you decide to pick this up, may you have more patience than I did.

Mysterious Setting (March 2024) by Kazushige Abe and translated by Michael Emmerich is a weird one. An unnamed narrator at a park tells the story of Shiori, a tone-deaf self-declared troubadour who loves to sing but is actually terrible at it.

Despite countless discouragement and criticism, most especially from her sister Nozomi, Shiori is determined to make her musical dream come true. She moves to Tokyo to pursue songwriting instead.

She soon becomes socially alienated as she tries to navigate life in the big city. People take advantage of her naivety and social awkwardness. It's no fun, actually, I find some scenes abusive, but Shiori continues with her (overly?) optimistic outlook in life. As a reader, I'm left questioning her mental health. She annoys me but at the same time, I sympathise with her.

The story has an unexpected and dark turn of events, and the ending is full of emotions. Don't want to reveal too much because this is a considerably short book. I didn't think I would enjoy this book much, but enjoyed it, I did. Mysterious Setting is listed as 'absurdist fiction', and I totally get why. It definitely fits in the genre.

This book is just a weird read. It’s an odd story within a story,( I’m not sure the framework really worked for me, but I suppose that’s the ‘mysterious setting’). The main character Shiori is a sensitive type who likes to sing when she’s emotional except she’s tone deaf so nobody wants to listen to her sing. Her sister is beyond cruel to her and her parents indifferent. It becomes more of a wild ride once she leaves school and moves to Tokyo. Strangely readable but the point of it all? I really don’t know.

'Mysterious Setting', by Kazushige Abe, is a bizarre, shocking and entertaining novel.

It's about completely tone-deaf Shiori who dreams of becoming a musician and a lyricist. She's a bit of an outcast, and she struggles fitting in with her family and peers. She has a disturbing relationship with her sister, Nozomi, who is very abusive and cruel to Shiori.
At the age of 18 she moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting but falls in with a bad crowd.
Shiori is a frustrating character to read about. She has no self awareness, she's extremely gullible and easily taken advantage of.
The story is captivating, unsettling and suspensful. The second-hand embarassment you'll feel while reading about Shiori's life will make you so uncomfortable. It's easily one of the weirdest novels I've read this way, but in a good way.
'Mysterious Setting' is a great introduction to Kazushige Abe's work.

I think this book is one of the very interesting books I've read this year. It really hooked me in and the more I read it the more I wasn't able to put it down.

At first I almost didn't find the enjoyment, to be honest. But the more the story goes, it became more and more interesting that I became to love the characters. And eventually, the story itself. I really liked how it unfolded. It was a little bit slow and it feels like you don't where this would take you, but then at the end, everything suddenly make sense. It feels like everything that happened in the earlier part of the book is a way to support the ending. Also this book is one of those with no plot and just vibe that recently I found to be quite relaxing to read because you don't have to think — just enjoy it. I have such a pleasant time reading this book, and I became attached to it.

The story itself is about Shiori who is tone-deaf but has a big dream to be a lyricist. She considered herself as a troubadour, and even when her sister Nozomi trying to wake her up from her dream, she kept going. One thing, though. To me, she's a pretty naive kind of person and for many times, people took advantage from her. Her life felt like not going anywhere. It felt like her path is not to be a troubadour who doesn't sing. Like I said. When you think this book is not that captivating, something happened and it suddenly suck you in.

This book made me feel annoyed, disguted, and sad but all in a good way. There are some point where I can't stand the characters' behaviours, but the story became so much interesting that you can forget all those feelings, at least for me. It's a little bit of comic, too, that I actually found myself asking why some scenes happened.

Anyway, this book is very enjoyable for me and I hope anyone would feel the same as well.

Thank you for NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the DRC. The book is now out, so go check it!

A crazy book which I don't think I really got but I enjoyed it a lot. Mysterious Setting follows a young school girl who is completely tone-deaf but loves to sing. When she has her heart broken by her first boyfriend who breaks the news to her that she is an awful singer, she moves away to college and becomes tied up with a really strange group of people that are in a band and she ends up in the most crazy and desperate situation ever that I was just not expecting.

This author has some really wild ideas but I am glad I liked this one a lot more than their other book I read. They are really good and building tension and taking a story to the places you would least expect it to go. I really enjoy the dark themes that this little book explored and how it was just a complete mystery what was going to happen or come next. I don't think this book will be for everyone with how strange it feels, but I do think that's a trademark for the author and it sometimes really works and sometimes doesn't. It worked really well here, though. Really kept me entertained and the writing was quite fresh and addictive.

'Mysterious Setting' by Kazushige Abe has left me more than a little unsettled.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Shiori after reading her whole story and I don't think I'll be able to forget this character for a long time.

Poor Shiori, she just needed to meet one person who wasn't crazy themselves with the ability to look out for her a little. I can't say I would recommend this novel - it wasn't at all pleasant to read at times - but it certainly stays with you.

A good novel if you like Franz Kafka perhaps.

1.5 rounded up.
I LOVE Weird fiction and second-hand embarrassment but couldn’t get past how this story is told. It made the most intriguing moments a snore fest.

Energy: Amusing. Ludicrous. Impressionable.
Scene: 🇯🇵 Begins in a run-down park in Tokyo, Japan
Perspective: We follow our main character through middle school, high school, and a college music program. Our MC is tone-deaf, can’t read the room, and their family and peers avoid them. They aspire to be a singer and seek connection and friendship.

🐺 Growls: Talking at us instead of letting us infer, experience, and observe. How boring this is.
🐕 Howls: How long this felt. Dragging what could have been a curious short story into something too long.

🤔 Random Thoughts:
I wanted to interrupt the narrator with Why Are You Telling Us This and Where Is This Going so many times. There were moments I loved, like dialogue or interactions that highlighted unlikeable cringe and awkwardness in such a visceral way, but they were sporadic and overshadowed by the narrator explaining why it’s cringe to us.

I couldn’t help but read most of this in a flat, monotone way. I think because shocking, bizarre, or horrific scenes were explained after the fact, and it ruined the vibe. Or right in the middle of an interesting/random/shocking scene, we’d be yanked out into a tangent of how Shiori really wants [insert thing here].

The ending and twist were indeed Weird, but still couldn’t keep my attention. If it was supposed to be symbolic, it was lost on me.

----
🎬 Tale-Telling: Wordy, dense stream of consciousness. Overly drawn-out philosophical dialogue between characters. Spoon-feeding bizarro tropes.
🤓 Reader Role: Sitting next to a stranger on a park bench as they tell us Shiori’s life story (literally).
🗺️ World-Building: Foreboding but barren. It could take place in just about any large city.
🔥 Fuel: Driven by character evolution and moral quandaries. It read like a third-person draft of Shiori’s memoir.
📖 Cred: Speculative ‘what if’
🚙 Journey: Excited for an event. Car dies in the middle of nowhere. Miss out on the event. Hear about it second-hand for months.

Mood Reading Match-Up:
-Rusty playground equipment. Child wailing. Parakeets chirping. Mall music. Electric guitars tuning up. Suitcase latches.
-Bizarro story-within-a-story soft sci-fi
-Socially isolated coming-of-age and new adult plots

Content Heads-Up: Physical and sexual assault, incestuous (sibling). Torture. Suicidal ideation. Rape (mention, rumours). Loneliness. Rejection (family, peers). Animal death (birds, disease). Nuclear weapons.

Rep: Japanese. Cisgender. Heterosexual.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Pushkin Press and NetGalley.

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

This is a story within a story. Kazushige Abe invites readers to follow him through a fun house of dark mirrors and comedic twists. When you read this book it's best to leave expectations behind and just let Kazushige Abe take you through.

Shiori is a young girl who is figuring out the world. She is naive, optimistic and always trying in a world that is destined to weigh her down. She dreams of becoming a troubadour but her dreams are greatly squashed when she realizes she is tone-deaf. Upon the death of her beloved pet store parakeets, Shiori is convinced she is the cause and swears to make things right. While studying to become a lyricist (the next best thing after a troubadour), Shiori inherit a mysterious piece of luggage. It is with this mysterious suitcase that Shiori becomes the person she was destined to become.

I rated this book four stars for one reason. Spoiler: In the beginning of the book there is, in my opinion an unneccassary (not developing the plot what so ever) inclusion of sisters kissing. Abe uses characters in "Mysterious Setting" as tools and I didn't understand the function of these details.

Thank you NetGalley for supplying readers with this book and thank you Pushkin Press for offering this book!

If you are looking for a weird girl book, then this is for you. The story follows Shiori as she navigates her early adult life. We see the relationship she has with her sister and how they have a peculiar codependency. I found their relationship particularly interesting and slightly unsettling. Shiori isn’t aware of how others perceive her and we follow her through her first relationship and her starting college with this lack of awareness. I won’t spoil the twist but the last third of the book had me on the edge of my seat compelled to know more.

Mysterious Setting is a dark comedy recounted by a person who heard a story from a stranger in a park. This unnamed narrative follows Shiori, a young girl who dreams of becoming a troubadour but discovers she's tone-deaf and shifts her focus to becoming a lyricist. Her journey takes a mysterious turn when she acquires a strange suitcase.

Shiori is portrayed as sweet, empathetic, and gullible. Her passion for singing about the world remains strong despite her obstacles, particularly her strained relationship with her sister, Nozomi. Nozomi's harsh treatment of Shiori borders on cruelty, yet their connection is complex, resembling the dynamics of an evil soap opera mother-in-law. They have a complex dynamic that is puzzling in real life.

Throughout the novella, Shiori faces emotional abuse and social isolation but maintains an unwaveringly positive outlook on life that's both inspiring and perplexing. The ending was quite emotional and dramatic, leaving you questioning Shiori's mental well-being long after you've turned the last page.

Despite its shortness, the novella captivates you from the start, seamlessly transitioning from literary fiction to suspenseful storytelling as Shiori encounters the enigmatic suitcase. The narrative's unexpected twists, well-paced plot, and skilful translation add to its poetic flow, making it a super engaging read. While I enjoyed the novella's immersion into Kuzushige Abe's storytelling, I found certain elements unsettling, particularly Shiori's continuous victimization and the ambiguity surrounding her character's mental state. However, these aspects also added depth to the narrative.

Overall, 'Mysterious Setting' serves as a wonderful introduction to Kuzushige Abe's work. I recommend it to readers looking for an exhilerating and bizaare read. Also, finding out he's married to Mieko Kawamaki was a shock to me. I've been wanting to read her books for a while now, this has motivated me to dive into both their books sooner.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC and for giving me a chance to review this book.

Plot-building starts off extremely slow but then accelerates extremely quickly in the last couple of pages, leading to an exciting end of the story. Although I understand why the author used the majority of the book to build up his characterization of Shiori and her naïveté given the climactic conflict that she ultimately finds herself in, I couldn’t help but feel an intense dislike for this protagonist. I often found myself rolling my eyes at her decision-making and responses to the situations that she put herself in. I’m giving this book 2 stars primarily because of how absolutely insufferable I found Shiori to be.

“Focus. Do you hear that? The lovely, heartrending sound of a young woman in tears”

Mysterious Setting immerses you in the idiosyncratic, surreal, and often ironic world of Kazushige Abe. It is certainly not a happy world to be invited into, but the writing and translation convey such depth that you find yourself swept away by the protagonist’s life.

While the first half of the book is certainly paced slower than the second half, it allows you to meet Abe's protagonist, Shiroi, without being caught up in the suspense of the latter part. While the more meandering opening may deter some readers, the author uses it to great effect to emphasise the tension towards the end of the story and introduce and discuss themes that are then reflected. This affords the careening twists a resonance and depth that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

This slim novel is full of seemingly unconnected, irreverent details. The nature of Abe’s style is that some of these come to the fore once again as motifs, while others fall into obscurity. This places the reader in an imbalanced position that, while gripping, can lead to the sense of some lapses in the incisive focus of the writing.

Abe’s story-within-a-story is a thoroughly engrossing, though at times an emotionally challenging, book, well worth a read.

This was a bit disappointing, I was hyped for the novel but lost interest due to the chaotic pacing and the somewhat uninteresting narration and style. It just did not click, I tried to keep going but felt like this will put me in a slump so I had to DNF a bit before the first half.

On one hand, the book might have some depth and more catchy events, but unfortunately it got lost in the chaotic chain of small events. On the other hand, nothing much seemed to happen for more than half of the book (I checked it through in order to get a clear perspective), which is too slow and confusing for me.

Synopsis: Shiori is a young woman who has always known she wanted to be a troubadour, a musician who sings about the beauty of the world. However there is one problem, Shiori is completely tone-deaf and her singing causes pain to everyone who hears it. When she turns 18 Shiori moves to Tokyo to pursue a degree in songwriting and accidentally falls in with a bad crowd. It is one of these new friends who leaves Shiori a unique gift that could lead to explosive results.

My Thoughts: Mysterious Setting is possibly the most shocking introduction I have had to an author. I am using the word shocking here positively and negatively. The first two-thirds of this book are difficult to read. Not because of the writing, or the excellent translation. Instead, it is difficult because the character of Shiori is consistently abused and taken advantage of on every page. At times I felt guilty for continuing to read about her misfortune and doing nothing to stop it. I wanted to reach through the page and stop the people who hurt Shiori, and try to warn her before she gets into another bad situation. These visceral emotions only speak to the excellent characters that Kazushige Abe has written. At the 65% mark, this book takes an explosive turn that I would have never expected. I won’t talk too much about it, but it turned this into a fantastic story that made Shiori’s pain mean something.

Overall, reading Mysterious Setting was emotionally impactful and exhilarating. I highly recommend this book.

An old man's tale

An old man, alone in a park and combine them with a bunch of kids. Yes, things are bound to go wrong.

Well, first the kids wanted to tease the man and I have to admit, I almost went ballistic reading then. Before they knew it, the old man started telling them a story. It was a story of resilience and determination usually told by in Japanese tales. Shiori was dead set at becoming a troubadour. This timid, too trusting girl had a suspicion that something was wrong in her singing but she was so determined, to a point that she almost wanted to quit school.

But Shiori made a pledge to no longer sing when she was shamed by her ex-boyfriend. The good-for-nothing who was just after her money, made her realise that she was tone-deaf, so tone-deaf that her dominant sister Nozomi convinced her that she caused parakeets in a store to go crazy by her horrendous singing.

Despite this, Shiori left for Tokyo to pursue her dreams. Howevers, her pledge to not sing made things worse. Her determination to not sing made her an outcast and caused her to look for connections online. And this has led to another case of people taking advantage of her money since well, they believed that her family is the rich, rural type of people.

Until a mysterious looking bag was left by one of her online connections. This was followed up by three emails with instructions to now cause damage to the city. It then led to a field becoming so barren that the government left it alone.

Well, allegedly because the only witness to this story was the old man.

I have very strong feelings for Shiori-Nozomi dynamic. Sometimes I think Nozomi was right for being domineering as Shiori was too trusting but sometimes I feel like Nozomi was too much. Ouh yes, and Shiori was too trusting. This actually set the tone for the story. You have no idea how many times I want to scream to Shiori for yearning too much for connection.

The story took me on a lot of turns starting from the park to the old man and of course, conspiracy theory. I like how the story was focused on Shiori and her family background and wealth were just in the background. It was there but it was not glaring and it was pulled out at convenient times.

I was not a big fan of conspiracy theories so this arrangement kind of suited me well. Shiori's yearning for connection, just like those felt by those on Netflix Swindler, made me realise it can never be a good thing. Things will never go well if we try to hard.

If there is one thing I want to highlight, the inflexibility of certain people in a certain culture. The policeman was just one of the examples of how people can be inflexibile. Sure, the bag was not a stolen item or sort but isn't it just good sense for the police to help the citizen check if everything is fine with the bag?

The train conductor was not flexible too but well, people have to work I guess.

I know some stories can get lost in translation but Mysterious Setting was translated just right for Kazushige Abe. I can feel Shiori's timidness, Nozomi's harshness and all through the journey of hiding the bag? I felt all of that.

Not going to lie, I actually want to know more of what Shiori talked with the bag. It felt as if the bag can influence Shiori. I know I would hate that since it will make Shiori's character weaker but well, the heart wants what the heart wants.

Suffice to say, I cannot wait for this book to come out.

A strange Japanese translated fiction by award winning author Kazushige Abe (who is apparently the husband of Mieko Kawakami). Starts off like literary fiction and turns suddenly into suspense.

It’s difficult to describe this story, as it started out quite slow about the life of a bullied and abused girl who struggled to fit in socially. The first half was difficult for me to get through, but when the mysterious suitcase showed up in her life halfway through the book I read the rest of the book straight through. It was a strange plot, but I would recommend it as a quick and weird story for people who like authors like Sayaka Murata.

I started it, but took a long break. I think I appreciated it more coming back to it.

This was a fun read. I appreciated the visual and engaging language. It felt like an A24 movie in the form of a book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This little novel was truly bizarre, wild ride through the main character, Shiori's adolescence. There's her brutally awful sister, her desire to sing but being horribly tone deaf, lack of close friendships, family money problems, and she ends up mixed up with some criminals to devastating effect. You can't help but feel bad for young Shiori who is taken advantage by everyone -- her sister, boyfriend, and even people she thinks are her friends. She ends up in Tokyo for music school and a series of innocent but naïve choices mixes her up in a bad situation. This book was truly a roller coaster, and I haven't read anything like it. I will say, as with other books I've read translated from East Asia countries, there is a level of disconnect I felt with the characters. It's almost as if I'm watching things from a very superficial level -- watching the plot happen to them, but never actually feel like I am in the plot with the characters. I think it's common writing style in the region, and it was more like I was taken along for the ride, but watching from a bird's eye view. Expect a level of disconnect, but that doesn't make it any less of a strange page-turner.

I want to thank Pushkin Press for bringing these short novels/novellas to Western audiences.

A dark comedy follows a young girl Shiori, who, despite being tone-deaf, wants to pursue a career in the music industry as a troubadour, then later a lyricist. Shiori is gullible and a grand optimist, even after experiencing many significantly traumatic experiences throughout the book.

I would say that Mysterious Setting tries to tell the story of young women with exaggerated and absurd ideas about the world that I'm sure many people can relate to. Its almost as if Shiori is "the Inner child" of the main character we have no name for. The absurdity of events surrounding Shiori has a Mr. Bean-like quality that didn't land for me.

Had I known going into this that it was a comedy (rather than seeing Kazushigse Abe and going in blind), I'm sure that my experience reading thus would have been much better.