Lonely Hearts Killer Quotes

“I feel like Japanese and American societies, and our entire world today for that matter, have gone mad. When the majority is overtaken by madness, it becomes all the more difficult to explain what madness is or how it manifests. For that reason, I turned to the novel as a venue for trying to make the madness visible. Unfortunately, serious literature is faced with extinction everywhere in our world, including in Japan. People want to believe they are not crazy, and readers seek out tales that allow them to avoid confronting the madness. And writers respond to such desires and demands by offering comfort.”
― Tomoyuki Hoshino, Lonely Hearts Killer

“I didn't survive. Who in this society is surviving? Aren't we all just either dead or not dead yet?”
― Tomoyuki Hoshino, Lonely Hearts Killer

“As I got increasingly used to the eco-system's variety of bugs, birds, and lizards, I grew fascinated with the subtlest of changes in the woods. Through a change in the smell of the dampness or a bird's call, I could sense that it would rain even if there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and I could tell autumn had arrived even if it was still hot. If the wind blew a certain way, the sound of the whole forest would change. And there were all sorts of rhythms and sounds: the ruffling of the leaves, the chafing and creaking of tree limbs, the fierce whistling through the gaps between trees, the warbles and cries of birds, the bugle calls of the cicadas, the bell tones of the evening bugs, the pattering of raindrops on leaves from pianissimo to a thundering forte. One could never get tired of listening to this soft and eternal recital. If I could have absorbed sustenance through my fingernails and skin the way leaves and branches do, I would have stayed there forever.”
― Tomoyuki Hoshino, Lonely Hearts Killer