At The End of The Matinee by Keiichiro Hirano
Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Publication Date: April 15th, 2021 (first published: April 8th, 2016)
Genre: Fiction, Japanese Literature, Contemporary
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Buy at: Kinokuniya Malaysia | MPH Online
Source: Thank you Times Read for the review copy in return for an honest review
Rating: 4★
Blurbs
Bestselling author Keiichiro Hirano offers a timeless ode to love’s fragility and its resilience in this delicate, award-winning novel.
Classical guitarist Satoshi Makino has toured the world and is at the height of his career when he first lays eyes on journalist Yoko Komine. Their bond forms instantly.
Upon their first meeting, after Makino’s concert in Tokyo, they begin a conversation that will go on for years, with long spells of silence broken by powerful moments of connection. She’s drawn by Makino’s tender music and his sensitivity, and he is intrigued by Yoko’s refinement and intellect. But neither knows enough about love to see it blooming nor has the confidence to make the first move. Will their connection endure, weaving them back together like instruments in a symphony, or will fate lead them apart?
Blending the harmonies of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes and the sensuality of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, At the End of the Matinee is an enchanting and thought-provoking love story.
Classical guitarist Satoshi Makino has toured the world and is at the height of his career when he first lays eyes on journalist Yoko Komine. Their bond forms instantly.
Upon their first meeting, after Makino’s concert in Tokyo, they begin a conversation that will go on for years, with long spells of silence broken by powerful moments of connection. She’s drawn by Makino’s tender music and his sensitivity, and he is intrigued by Yoko’s refinement and intellect. But neither knows enough about love to see it blooming nor has the confidence to make the first move. Will their connection endure, weaving them back together like instruments in a symphony, or will fate lead them apart?
Blending the harmonies of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes and the sensuality of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, At the End of the Matinee is an enchanting and thought-provoking love story.
Review
This is my third time reading Japanese literature and I'm still trying to get used to it. At The End of the Matinee is really a beautiful story of the two-person who first time met and falling in love at the first sight. Not they realize straightway but they do know their mutual feelings on each other. Their path wasn't as easy as it seems because it takes years before they met again and their bond is as strong as it seems.
"People think that only the future can be changed, but in fact, the future is continually changing the past."
The narration is told in the third perspective and I love that this book is based on a true story but at the same time, I was afraid of how am I supposed to pour my thought on this. Because we are talking about a real-life event. The longing emotion, the mutual love, the loss, lack of communication, and thinking about it takes years for them to meet again is just - hard, is that the right word? Satoshi Makino is a classical guitarist who is on tour around the world where he first time met Yoko Komine, the journalist and they bonded instantly.
Honestly, I am having mixed feelings toward this book. Sometimes I like sometimes I don't and in the end, when I finish the book I concluded that yes, I do like the story. I have listened to classical music before however not that I really know much about that but I still enjoy reading this book with music references around it. Reading At The End of the Matinee on a rainy day, just felt so good which makes it easy for me to weave in through the book. The story does move me emotionally.
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