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160th out of 386 books
—
1,282 voters
Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse
L to R (Western Style). Two short novels, including the title story and Black Fairy Tale, plus a bonus short story. Summer is a simple story of a nine-year-old girl who dies while on summer vacation. While her youthful killers try to hide the her body, she tells us the story--from the POV of her dead body--of the boys' attempt to get away murder. Black Fairy Tale is classi...more
Paperback, 350 pages
Published
September 21st 2010
by VIZ Media LLC
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Aug 25, 2011
Chris King Elfland's 2nd Cousin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of gothic, literary horror
NOTE: This review first appeared at
The King of Elfland's 2nd Cousin
on August 24th, 2011. If you like the review, please stop by!
Maybe it’s because I spent a decade living abroad, or because both my parents are immigrants. But for whatever reason, foreign techniques in storytelling and art have always fascinated me. Now and again, I find myself going on a binge of reading from a particular part of the world, and several months ago I started a Japanese binge – made all the harder knowing nothin...more
Maybe it’s because I spent a decade living abroad, or because both my parents are immigrants. But for whatever reason, foreign techniques in storytelling and art have always fascinated me. Now and again, I find myself going on a binge of reading from a particular part of the world, and several months ago I started a Japanese binge – made all the harder knowing nothin...more
"Summer, Fireworks and My Corpse" contains Otsuichi's early works - two novellas and a short story. As a collection of work, it's very good - not disjointed or thrown together, though I must confess some confusion at the order of the stories; from my point of view the book was named for the least effective of the stories, and they feel chronologically backward. [return][return]"Summer Fireworks and My Corpse" is a shorter novella from a dead child's point of view, as she follows the fate of her...more
This was an interesting story collection. There were three stories, the titular "Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse", "Yuko", and "Black Fairy Tale". The first two were so-so stories, and both ended with a sudden perspective shift and a 'hey, here's the big twist ending'. They were okay, interesting, but not particularly chilling.
"Black Fairy Tale", however, had any number of really creepy moments. It's the longest story in the book, and while peppered with gore and graphic details, it wasn't alwa...more
"Black Fairy Tale", however, had any number of really creepy moments. It's the longest story in the book, and while peppered with gore and graphic details, it wasn't alwa...more
Definitely not as good as his other novel "Goth", but still entertaining. This book is actually a collection of several stories, but the only one that stands out is "Black Fairytale," which takes up the whole second half of the book. Here Otsuichi plays with the same thing he did in "Goth" - tricking the reader's ability to make assumptions, and it has an amazing impact, making you rework everything you thought you knew about the story. Unfortunately, it had two unexplained fantasy elements (onl...more
A strangely lopsided collection this: the shortest story, Yuko, is a very nicely constructed twist-in-the-tale yarn, that's all the better for its unpredictability, and the titular story meanders its way to a fairly understated though more predictable end, but it's all compulsive reading. The set piece for this book, though, is Black Fairy Tale, which takes up about two thirds of the book (why this collection isn't named for this story instead of the clunky title it's been saddled with is beyond...more
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Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse (72 pages)
Meh. Good set-up, but it drags. And seeing as how it's all of 72 pages, that's saying something.
The characters felt noticeably flat—particularly in the case of Midori.
It does come in with a nice ending, though. The 'Coda' is what keeps this from being too terribly dull. But it still feels like wasted potential.
Yuko (35 pages)
So, so, so much better than the previous story. Half the length, and well over twice the atmosphere and suspense.
Good set-up, good...more
Meh. Good set-up, but it drags. And seeing as how it's all of 72 pages, that's saying something.
The characters felt noticeably flat—particularly in the case of Midori.
It does come in with a nice ending, though. The 'Coda' is what keeps this from being too terribly dull. But it still feels like wasted potential.
Yuko (35 pages)
So, so, so much better than the previous story. Half the length, and well over twice the atmosphere and suspense.
Good set-up, good...more
I read this one for the title novella, Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse, an excellent juvie noir pageturner narrated from the POV of a murdered little girl. Also included are a short story, "Yuko," which reminded me of Hawthorne, and a novel, Black Fairy Tale, a J-horror story that weaves together an amnesiac and a serial killer, a winning combination if ever there was one.
Okay, so this is one short story and two novelas in one book. The first novela, "Summer, Fireworks, and my Corpse" was pretty good. Little girl is killed by her friends and her corpse narrates their attempts at hiding the crime. Even a good twist. "Yuko" which is the short story was just kinda meh, but not bad. "Black Fairy Tale" the last novela, that was crazy. I mean really fucked up crazy. I am still kinda like, did I just read that? Have no effing clue how I feel about it, except my reaction...more
I like this book, the titular story is unusual but it definitely captures the feeling of a warm summer, deep in the Japanese countryside. Perhaps it lacks some character depth, but there is a pervasive feeling throughout the narrative that I find very compelling.
'Yuko' is the second story in the novel, short, but not without its charms, very reminiscent of Edogawa Rampo's works.
The third, and the longest piece is 'Black Fairy Tale' with its twisting narrative and playful, misleading plot, and...more
'Yuko' is the second story in the novel, short, but not without its charms, very reminiscent of Edogawa Rampo's works.
The third, and the longest piece is 'Black Fairy Tale' with its twisting narrative and playful, misleading plot, and...more
This one fell short for me. Perhaps because I readZOO first and loved it. I didn't connect to the characters as I did in ZOO, so the stories did nothing for me, not even the most talked about story, 'Black Fairy Tale.' The beginning of the story was marvelous, then I got bored.
This book consists of three short stories, Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse, Yuko, and Black Fairy Tale. The first story literally sent chills down my spine. I was genuinely creeped out when I finished it. The other two stories didn't have the same effect on me, but they were still very good. If you are a horror/mystery fan, this is a must-read.
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Otsuichi (乙一, Otsuichi?), is the pen-name of Hirotaka Adachi (安達 寛高, Adachi Hirotaka?), born 1978. He is a Japanese writer, mostly of horror short stories. He made his debut with Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse while still in high school. Major works include the novel Goth, which was made into a manga, and the short story collection Zoo, which was made into a movie. Tokyopop has released his shor...more
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Jun 10, 2012 07:12pm