The secret to success, is not to fail! If you think your life will be smooth sailing, you are mistaken. This is a fast and furious mystery about a man and woman who have gone off the rails! One day, Mio Ochiai hears that her part-time colleague Ichihara has committed a mass murder. Mio had met Ichihara by chance at a convenience store on the night of the murder. Remembering this, Mio comes up with an idea. The queen of “iamisu”, Sachiko Manashi, unleashes an epic ensemble drama.
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Table of Contents
This book is broken down into “cases”/chapters as follows:
For fun - the reason why I bought this book was because of the special double obi on it. I was browsing the shelves at the Kyoto Maruzen and this was displayed face up on a rack and I felt spoken to.
(Now slightly damaged somehow from the ink being scraped )
I think there is one story made up of interconnected short stories.
In the first section of chapter one… the absolute slander against people who like reading I won’t stand for it If I had a colleague like Murakami-san though, I’d also not want to take breaks with them
So I didn’t fully make this connection (I didn’t look at the author of this book, whoops. Read the summary and nothing else ) until I saw 孤虫症 mentioned, but this author also wrote みんな邪魔 which I also want to read and seems in a similar vein of TPDTT…
Why in spoiler tags? Yes, this is the reason why I hesitated starting this now, because I already have みんな邪魔 in my 積読. But reading and logic don’t necessarily go together for me
I think because yours was
And I’m not that far (about where you two are) but so far I’m enjoying her writing style, so I don’t regret putting another one of her books on my 読みたい list.
It’s not like when I discovered the author of one of my least favorite Japanese books also authored another book I already owned and paid a decent amount for
I believe it’s no spoiler to say that it’s definitely not short stories, at least not independent ones. The first section of the next chapter is numbered 4, so the numbering of the sections continues as if the chapters weren’t there. Another book with confusing sections, yay
Why do I have the feeling that Mio is really not ok? Or that any of these characters are ok? I’m sure calling her former ex boyfriend is going to go well. Her ときめき at other people’s misfortune explains that line in the back of the book about 人の不幸が大好物!
I’m enjoying how comical the writing is so far. Especially Murakami-san with the whiteboard and her randomly writing words and details on it when explaining things about home loans. The descriptions of Ichihara-san are also…something.
I wonder if everyone who works at the grocery store with Mio is something who made a mistake in their life and messed up, hence the title and theme of 失敗 vs 成功？Maybe the stories are about them. Let’s see!
Not ok? Why would you say that? I mean, apart from her suddenly after three years of depression having the sudden impulse to buy a condo at the most expensive neighbourhood she can think of, despite the fact that she works part time at a super market and her husband just announcing that he’s currently unemployed? And apart from the fact that she suddenly concluded that a random acquaintance of hers talking about high-rise problems is definitely the cause of her stillbirth and absolutely needs to be punished (I laughed so hard at the pizza delivery idea. So mature and proportionate). I think she’s absolutely fine.
In fact, I was fully expecting her to be the one who snapped and killed someone, but apparently it’s not her turn yet. However bad your mental state may be, there’s always someone around who is getting on even worse
Finished chapter 2! So much hilarious cringe… I feel like I’m watching a car crash in slow motion. My face keeps alternating between and .
Where to even begin?? The reunion lunch scene between Mio and her ex was hilarious. The psychological descriptions reminded me of a 辻村美月 book, but if it was less moralizing and dramatic and more humorous and dark. Mio being disappointed at his business card was so good… Urghh and from the point he talked about taking severance and starting his own company and nonchalantly mentions he bought a Rolex with the payout, I was just shaking my head and knew he is also bound for failure.
I also found the meta references to the book title and the author herself very funny.
I’m not sure if I’m misremembering, but did the ex mention that Mio was regularly calling him to tell him about 殺人事件 in her town?? There are multiple??? Very sus.
Also finished chapter 2. What hilariously horrible people they all are! What a way to break up with a boyfriend: first tell him you want to get married, then list all the reasons why he is a total failure as a partner and person and leave him in shambles. And then still keep his contact number in case you need him! And that stupid, stupid man. Feeling so proud for being head of a tiny, failing magazine. Feeling so proud of being president of his own company that he only started because of the ex-girlfriend who has already once destroyed his fragile ego, and which seems to have no plan or way to produce any revenue. Mio has been established to be recklessly impulsive, but Kenya isn’t much better. Imagine meeting with your first author as a potential publisher, and taking the trouble to look up their picture and bio, but not the manuscript they gave you. This is totally like a slow motion train wreck, and I’m hoping for a spectacular explosion at the end.
I took it to mean that she called him regularly to tell him about the developments on that one 殺人事件, rather than there being multiple. Although that would certainly be very interesting.
Oh dear, Murakami-san ended up homeless? That’s quite the sad turn of events. Mio was so rude to her while interviewing her! Bringing those pies from the hotel where she got married…that’s some pretty next level stuff.
I’ve been wondering when the mystery part of the book is going to begin since so far it seems like just a humorous story about some awful people. The letter from Ichihara in prison at the beginning said she’s innocent, so maybe there is a different culprit!? I laughed at her saying Mio is the only reason she’s in jail. Imagine her really getting the death sentence because Mio is a bumbling idiot. Or maybe she is the culprit herself?
And done with case 4 - now things are getting interesting!!!
Sooo much happened in this chapter! It feels like the speed just went from 30 to 100 instantly. First of all, I need to comment that the date scene with Kenya and Komata-san was hilarious. He has zero delicacy. The poor girl was about to have diarrhea and he chased after her… and then in the same chapter we meet Etsuko, Kunieda shows up and then ends up dead?! The chapter ends with Sakuranamiki Sumire?! I can’t keep up all of a sudden! Shout out to Murakami-san for having a real successful comeback and moving to the Philippines, though.
)
knowing drama is promised is motivating! 
The descriptions of Ichihara-san are also…something. 
Why would you say that? I mean, apart from her suddenly after three years of depression having the sudden impulse to buy a condo at the most expensive neighbourhood she can think of, despite the fact that she works part time at a super market and her husband just announcing that he’s currently unemployed? And apart from the fact that she suddenly concluded that a random acquaintance of hers talking about high-rise problems is definitely the cause of her stillbirth and absolutely needs to be punished (I laughed so hard at the pizza delivery idea. So mature and proportionate). I think she’s absolutely fine. 
and 
Or maybe she is the culprit herself? 
First of all, I need to comment that the date scene with Kenya and Komata-san was hilarious. He has zero delicacy. 