【英語で読書感想文】Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura 辻村深月『かがみの孤城』

Title : Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Author : Mizuki Tsujimura

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a Japanese novel and I heard that this will be published in English this year. So I decided to post a review about it! The author, Mizuki Tsujimura is the winner of several book awards in Japan and this book won the Japan Booksellers Award which is chosen by booksellers across Japan.

The story is narrated by Kokoro, who is a 14 year-old girl and stays at home all day refusing to go to school because of bullying from her classmates. One day she finds that the mirror in her room is glowing and it is the entrance to a castle in another world. In the castle, Kokoro meets 7 students who also don’t go to school. There is also a bizarre creature named the Wolf Queen and it tells the kids to find a key hidden in the castle. If they can find the key, only one wish can be granted and then all of their memories in the castle will vanish.

At first, Kokoro and the other students keep their distance from each other, but once knowing that their situations in the real world are somewhat similar, they feel sympathy and gradually become close. They decide to find the key together but Kokoro has a mixed feelings because she does not want to forget them and is unsure whose wish will be granted.

Kokoro is a shy and lonely girl. She is scared of her classmates and always cares what other people think about her. I think her anxiety and awkwardness may be relatable to many readers no matter where they live, as long as they know that being a teenager is very tough and difficult. The author spent a lot of pages on how sensitive the protagonist is, so honestly I felt the book was a bit too long at first. However, a plot twist was revealed in the middle of the story and it changed everything. Of course I wont’t give any details of the twist here but it was an emotional moment when Kokoro (and I) finally understood why these 7 kids were gathered in one place.

The plot sounds like a fantasy novel for young readers, but I would recommend this book to everyone who likes elaborate twists and delving into human (especially teenage) emotions.

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よくあるYAかな？と思いきや、何層にもレイヤーが重なっていて感動しました。
海外で出版されるタイミングで英語で感想書いて投稿してみたら、やっぱり注目度が高いのか他の投稿よりもイイねが多かったみたいです。


元の投稿はコチラ↓です。

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