[Book Review] Reading "Between Calm and Passion"

Hello. I'm mira, living in Munich, Germany.
Thank you for visiting♪

Before heading to Japan, I finally finished reading Kaori Ekuni's "Between Calm and Passion," which I had borrowed from one of my few reading friends in Munich.

Click here for the Kinokuniya link🔗

This is a slightly older work published in 1999, but I can see why it was such a hot topic back then. Even reading it 26 years later, it doesn't feel dated at all; rather, I felt it was a masterpiece that transcends time and touches the heart.

This work is a collaboration between Hitonari Tsuji and Kaori Ekuni, depicting the same story from a male perspective (Blu) and a female perspective (Rosso). This time, I read Ekuni's Rosso. I feel like I read Tsuji's Blu a long time ago, and I also saw the movie, so there was a sense of nostalgia. However, I had forgotten most of the content, so the ending unexpectedly moved me.

As many have said, Ekuni's writing is truly beautiful.
Her choice of words is unique and delicate, and she conveys quiet scenes and emotional movements richly. The flow of time in the story is also leisurely, and I had the sensation of slipping into that atmosphere myself as I read.

The way the protagonist, Aoi, lives with a distance between herself and the world since her breakup with Junsei, seeps through the edges of her words, which is heartbreaking.
As her words, "The world moves outside of me," symbolize, even though everyone around her is kind, Aoi herself does not try to blend in. I felt an indescribable loneliness in that image.

Aoi, a returnee who couldn't find a "place to belong" anywhere, finally found it in Junsei. But they broke up over a tiny misunderstanding, and she has lived with her heart somewhat closed ever since. I turned the pages feeling frustrated and sometimes with a pang in my heart.

And then there's Marvin. He's so kind and so perfect that I seriously thought, "If Aoi is still that attached to Junsei, then give Marvin to me!" (laughs). I was completely absorbed in the story.

Reading these words from Ekuni, I felt deeply once again the heartache caused by the gap between "life" and the "heart."

For the first time in a while, I wanted to re-read Hitonari Tsuji's Blu, and I wanted to watch the movie again. And above all, I wanted to go to Florence again.
However, as someone who knows the reality, I want to tease the sight of Yutaka Takenouchi appearing refreshingly at the top of that Duomo by saying, "No, he'd be drenched in sweat..." (laughs). Junsei probably took a good rest there before coming out.

Thank you for reading until the end.
Let's meet again♪ Tschüss!

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A super long novel that is a counterpart to Hitonari Tsuji's work of the same name.

Click here for my previous book review article.

I'm also listening to books on Audible now.

I have compiled my book review articles so far.

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