Atmospheric, multi-layered story of a photographer who is accused of burning more than one of his models to death is fascinating but somehow doesn't quite achieve what it needs to achieve to leave the reader a profound impression--although memories of certain scenes linger. ( )

For a relatively short novel, Last Winter We Parted certainly put me through a roller-coaster. It has an intriguing opening that sucks you in, but before long it was getting seriously weird and rather irritating. I even got to the point where even the fonts were annoying me; not a good sign.

The book starts with a journalist interviewing a man on death row, with a view to writing a book about his crimes. He has been found guilty of killing two women, but claims that he is innocent. In his research, the journalist encounters the murderer’s sister, a seriously kinky woman who provokes him and seduces him into rough sex, but then asks him to “save her”.

Nakamura unfolds his plot by switching between narrative chapters and “archives”, which are presumably source documents that the journalist has collected. This is where the fonts come in; the “archive” chapters are for some reason in smaller type than the rest of the book, and I found them almost impossible to read. I couldn’t see any real purpose in doing this.

Just as I started to banish this book to the outer reaches of one-stardom, Nakamura unveils some bravura plot twists and the end result is one of the most grisly and twisted thrillers that I’ve read in quite a while. The author has managed to fit a serpentine and complicated story into a brief novel and, in doing so, demonstrates what an exceptional writer he is. I’m certainly going to read more by Nakamura. ( )

I picked this book up at a Japanese bookseller and at first I could not figure out why I kept reading it. The translation feels in places like it could be smoothed over and that may be part of the disconnect. The plot is convoluted and the characters stereotypes of a thriller novel. But in some way it is beautiful and fascinatingly disturbing. There are some very deftly handled elements in this very meta book.
My main concern is that the female characters are handled terribly here. This is not a book for the faint of heart. ( )

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Original Title: 去年の冬、きみと別れ (Kyonen no Fuyu, Kimi to Wakare)

A young writer visits a convicted murderer/photographer on death row, willing to write a book about him. At first convinced about his guilt, he soon finds that not everything is as it seems in this world of photography. Did he really set those girls on fire?

I haven't read a great deal of Japanese books, but the ones I read all seem to have some kind of 'strange' fascination with death. Last Winter We Parted was no exception to my experience, but with a synopsis like that I hadn't really expected anything else.

I took me some time to get into the story. In the beginning I found it hard to distinguish between the different characters and the flashbacks/letters. I was thinking 'This is a completely different book from what I expected to read'. But at a certain point it became almost impossible for me to put down the book, as the plot (that might not be very plausible at all times, but it didn't bother me this time) unravels I just had to know how things would end.

Was it a 'perfect murder', a 'murder for art', an accidence or are things not as black-and-white like that? A fascinating story which could've had a somewhat better execution in my opinion, but still it made me want to check out some other books by Fuminori Nakamura...

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

When I first laid eyes upon this book and read the description, I knew I had to take a crack at this story. For a while now I have been an active fan of the Japanese literature world. I find so many of the books to be unique and refreshing from what I am normally accustomed to. This book is yet another example of Japan’s distinctive view on thriller based literature. The author weaves a complex tale of a mad man’s journey to find an answer to a question. A question that should never be answered, but as time progresses it becomes an obsessive equation. One that will leave him in prison, two women dead, a second killer free, his future biographer nearly dead, and the police looking like fools.

This book was both enjoyable and challenging for me to read. The author pushed the limits on the reader’s imagination and emotions. The raw pictures that were created, brought forth an awkward awareness of the dark sensual world that exists. A world that involves people that are flirting with madness and prison. Many people do not realize that there is a deep inner world that exist, which harbors people who thrive on behaviors that are close to the ones described by the author. I think the only difficult part of the book that I had was the very end. I became a little confused on what was happening about the last 27 pages or so. I had to reread it to kind of get the gist of things. I am not sure if that was the translation or how the story was written. I do recommend this book to those that love to read books from other countries. I think it is a wonderful way to expand ones horizons. ( )