難民探偵

by NisiOisiN

Paperback

First published December 11, 2009

About the author

Nisio Isin (西尾維新 Nishio Ishin), frequently written as NisiOisiN to emphasize that his pen name is a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist and manga writer. He attended and left Ritsumeikan University without graduating. In 2002, he debuted with the novel Kubikiri Cycle, which earned him the 23rd Mephisto Award at twenty years of age.

He currently works with Kodansha on Pandora, the Kodansha Box magazine, and Faust, a literary magazine containing the works of other young authors who similarly take influence from light novels and otaku culture. He was also publishing a twelve volume series over twelve months for the Kodansha Box line; Ryusui Seiryoin was matching this output, and the Kodansha Box website stated that this is the first time in the world two authors have done twelve volume monthly novel series simultaneously from the same publisher.

In February, 2008, his novel Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases was released in English by Viz Media. Del Rey Manga has already released the first volume in his Zaregoto series. His Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari and Katanagatari novels have been adapted into anime series. Nekomonogatari (Kuro) has been adapted into an anime TV movie, and Kizumonogatari will be release in theaters this year. Monogatari Series: Second Season, adapted from 6 books in Monogatari Series will air in July 2013. Another of his works, Medaka Box (manga), has been adapted into a two-season anime series.

Reviews

[Kakuzō Akutagawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Her part-time job went out of business, she can't find a job, she's kicked out of her house, and her parents have given up on her - how fortunate she is."

My thoughts after reading "難民探偵/ Refugee Detective"
Written by NisiOisiN

The story:
Madoi Shouko has had a very rough life. Her part-time job went out of business, she lives her day by day from her parent's allowance while searching frantically for a new job. Her parents finally give up on her and cut all ties.

As a petition from her grandma, her uncle, Madoi Kyouki a famous mystery writer whose works sell despite his wishes, decides to give her a job as his assistant. The condition is that she needs to find a new job and move out in 6 months.

Because of a murder that takes place, his uncle is suspected by the police, now with the help of the Refugee Detective Nebuka Yougi friend of her uncle, Shouko will have to go all the way to Tokyo and investigate this incident and clean the name of her uncle.

Enjoyment:
This book is a tedious read.
It starts very interestingly and fun to read, but sadly once the actual mystery starts, it turns into 100% dialogue, which, the majority of it is repetitive.
The first 100 pages are very damn good and enjoyable, from there until the 2 last pages it's tedious and incredibly lacking of fun things (in the reading).
More tedious than enjoyable.

How difficult was it to read this novel in Japanese?:

Not an easy book, it has some slice-of-life segments (and funny enough those were my favorite parts of the book) which are very easy to understand. But then when the insufferable dialogue starts it becomes very difficult.

If you want to read this book in Japanese:

I made a PDF containing a vocabulary list with pronunciation, the meaning of the kanji, and definitions of the most "difficult" words I found while reading it. https://drive.google.com/file/d/16lLy...

Thoughts:
It's a book that's way too "normal" to be from nisioisin, it has normal characters, it has a normal setting, it has normal characters, it has a normal mystery, it's resolved in a normal way.
Yeah, it's a boring book.
But, in my opinion, there's a reason for it.

It's a normal read, about normal people, solving a normal crime with help of the police.
The book was so boring I was actually mad by the time I got to the epilogue.
And who would've guessed, the last two pages made my opinion on the book change completely.

I'm not going to spoil it.
But the last two pages made me realize that this book was boring for a reason. It was boring because it served the purpose. For the readers that have been accustomed to extravagant mysteries with happy endings...

this served the purpose of teaching that mysteries can exist in real life, that things like that happen and aren't as exorbitant as in books, it teaches that not all books end up in a happy tone.

That if you want your life to move forward, there's no event that will do that for you. The only way that you can move forward and make your life better is by your own effort.

The verdict:
Boring book, incredible characters, boring dialogue, tedious read.
Amazing message.
this book was definitely an experience, nisio toys with readers expectations and makes the most unexpected things (aka the most normal) to be the answers to those expectations.

I'm glad I didn't drop it, because those two last pages really surprised me, left me speechless, and made me rethink my life, and most importantly my opinion on the book.

Nanmin Tantei (The Refugee Detective) is a boring book, but a book that has an incredibly strong message (or, that's how it felt to me).

The book that I was so sure I was gonna give a low score, surprised me at the very last moment and ended up being an 8/10. definitely, a book that I won't forget. The proof that a boring book can be a good book.

[Shinya]

西尾維新というと、天才が登場して、おいしい所を持っていくという展開が多かった。戯言シリーズとか世界シリーズとか。しかしこの話や物語シリーズを見ると、割と違う方向、つまり主人公が有能な人物の力を借りて頑張って結論にたどり着く、みたいな物が多くなって来た…ような気がする。こう書いていると西尾作品はパターン化してる、みたいな批判をしてるみたいだけれど、自分は西尾作品はやっぱり面白い！と思っています。