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2020-10 The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike
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I actually had some trouble getting it myself, ended up buying the e-book from somewhere as it wasn't available at our libraries anywhere.
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So let's kick it off with our first question:
- Would you live next to a cemetary?
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It's good, somehow I find it "creepy in a lighthearted way".
I am now at chapter 9. How are you all doing?
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I know I said it was creepy in a lighthearted way, after the first half it was NOT. It's truly creepy. And it would also make a good movie I think.
What do you girls think about the story? Did anyone start yet? I don't want to give away any spoilers with my questions...
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- This book was originally published in 1986, do you feel any of that during your reading?
- How do you feel about the main characters, the Kano family, their neighbors the Inoues and the brothers and "sis" Tatsuji and Naomi?
And for when we have all finished:
- Which one of the events did you think was the most scary?
- Considering the events and the actions taken, what would you have done differently if you were Misao and/or Teppei?
- Did the story unfold the way you expected? What did you think about the ending?
- What questions does the story leave you with? What do you want to know more about?
I'm on chapter 10 of the book so far and at this point I'm not finding the members of the Kano family very likeable (particularly the husband and wife). I would live near a cemetery, depending on the circumstances. If I lived in a spooky old house and there was a cemetery nearby, that would be cool. If it was like the circumstances in this book where the cemetery had been disturbed and weird things were happening, likely not.
Is anyone still having issues finding this book? I cannot find it in my local library (physical or digital) or audiobooks...
True Japanese AND 80's horror, which would also work well for a book in translation for the reading challenge.
"The best-known Japanese horror novels in the English market all hail from the ‘90s and are tangled in American minds with the “J-horror” boom precipitated by films like The Ring and The Grudge. Mariko Koike’s 1986 novel The Graveyard Apartment precedes both trends. As a result, some of its storytelling may feel dated to American readers: a young family moves into a seemingly ideal apartment building that happens to be bordered on three sides by a graveyard, a crematorium and a Buddhist temple, so it’s little surprise when supernatural events start bubbling up. As with many Japanese horror staples, The Graveyard Apartment relishes slowly mounting dread and vengeful ghosts. Few of Koike’s novels are available in English, which makes The Graveyard Apartment a fascinating look at the Japanese horror scene in the ‘80s."