Feeling Gentle

The "correctness" of how things should be
can become a curse.
This is the true essence of Haruna Terachi's "reading detox,"
which delicately
scoops up the thoughts of those
carrying pain and circumstances.
When I read Haruna Terachi's
novels,
I am always
made aware of the dangers of what we take for granted.
It exposes how much of what I thought was "normal"
was actually just a castle in the air
arbitrarily constructed
within a narrow perspective.
So, it should be very painful,
but at the same time, it is very comforting.
That is likely because she wraps sharp themes
in kindness
and presents them to us.
Her new book,
"Those Who Stand by the River,"
is also a story
filled with such pain and comfort.
Kiyose Harada, a 29-year-old
cafe manager,
suddenly receives a phone call from a hospital one day.
They tell her that her boyfriend, Keita Matsuki,
has been seriously injured and is unconscious.
Keita had fallen from a pedestrian bridge
along with his friend from elementary school, Itsuki Iwai.
There were also eyewitness reports
that they seemed to have been fighting.
However, Kiyose and Keita
had not been in contact

since they had a fight a few months ago.
Moreover, the reason for that fight was that Keita
was stubbornly
hiding things from Kiyose.
During the months they were apart,
what on earth
happened to him?
Kiyose visits Keita's room
for the first time in a while
and finds three notebooks there.
In them, the "truth" that Keita
wanted to hide
is written...
I have summarized the introduction like this,
but this doesn't really
tell the whole story.
For example, the cafe employee
who is a "useless" woman and causes trouble for Kiyose.
The paperback books in Keita's house.
The fact that the girlfriend of Itsuki,
who is also unconscious like Keita,
was someone who felt a bit off.
Various feelings of discomfort accumulate little by little,
and they lead to the "truth"
that the three notebooks reveal.
Since I am hiding important keywords of the story,
I hope you will forgive me
for the roundabout
expressions.
This is a story of imagination.

Thinking something is "not normal" when you see it
is just because it doesn't fit the "normal"
you have arbitrarily decided for yourself,
and people who are "not normal"
each have their own circumstances and backgrounds.
The foolishness and danger of people who happen to be
in a safe and privileged place judging "normal"
without considering that
is brought to light.
The book depicts such examples
one after another
along with many episodes.
I want people who think of themselves as
"

doing things properly


" and people who tend to think
others should
"

do things properly

" to read this book.
Could that be the curse
that is clouding your vision?
Review: Hiroko Oya

Kiyose Harada, a young cafe manager,
receives a call from a hospital one day
saying that her boyfriend Matsuki has been injured
and has not regained consciousness.
Kiyose visits Matsuki's room,

and by finding the notebook he had hidden,
she begins to learn little by little
the secrets her boyfriend had been hiding from her.
A story that carefully weaves together voices buried in "the ordinary"
and depicts the pain of interacting with others
and the hope that lies beyond.