A Perfect Day to be Alone

A Perfect Day to be Alone by Nanae Aoyama delivers a smooth flowing story spanning over 4 seasons of 20 year old Chizu's life— her mother deciding to go to China, her moving to a distant 71 year old relative's house, her heartbreaks and sifting through jobs, her search for independence.This Chizu is quite a character. She gets unnecessarily jealous of this old woman— Ginko, she's living with. But the next moment she's hit with a karma and even she admits to it. She watches her find love of her own. She watches Ginko trying to be youthful and living a fulfilling live with her two cats, her dance lessons and memories of her past. As Chizu overcomes these feelings, she also navigates her life where she tries to build a life for herself— away from her mother. When she thought her odd jobs would be enough sustainance, she gets overwhelmed with the unease of not being able to do enough.Like the changing seasons, this book reflects the changes in a young woman's life. A simple, yet necessary book to show us that the change is the only constant and while it may look like we are stuck at a place, we are still moving, along with our ever evolving relationships.

The book came in excellent condition and was easy to read. The story itself was not my cup of tea and isn’t something I morally aligned with. The loneliness wasn’t as relatable as I hoped it would be…so it goes. Expectations versus reality and all. Totally biased review. :P

A warm hug kind of a book it is! Everyone would be have at the state of Chizu atleast once in a lifetime. The author has beautifully penned down how vulnerability can alter a person's life.

This is a short quirky novel translated from the Japanese. I like Japanese fiction and this is a little gem of a book. The story focuses on twenty year old Chizu whose mother goes to live in China, they seem to have a distant fractured relationship. Chizu goes to live with elderly Ginko where she is surrounded by pictures of deceased cats as well as a few living ones . It is such a detailed story for its size focusing on the relationship between the two of them . Chizu is lonely and doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, struggling with relationships whereas Ginko has a man friend and is making the most of life going to dances and cooking meals. Chizu seems to be jealous of Ginko and comes across very spiteful at times . I really enjoyed this novel , it’s about loneliness, friendship, relationships and is partly a coming of age story.

Once started,I devoured this book in just two sittings. At150pp.,this is a short novel. But,such beautiful prose and such mastery of language.Written in 2007,this English translation of the Japanes original makes its appearance this year. The plot is simple:a young woman in and around Tokyo comes to terms with her world and herself.In lucid and simple prose,her world is revealed to the reader.There are few characters and not very many events,as such.But I found this quite the most perfect piece of writing that I've read this year.I was swept up in the profundity that the author has conjured from the simple basics of life. This is a book to treasure and reread over again.