Thanks to Pushkin Press for an e-ARC! That was much different than I expected and I feel like I don't totally understand what the point of the story was.

This one unfortunately didn’t work for me, and I think a lot may have been lost in the translation. It follows Tokunaga, who’s a young manzai artist in Japan, a comedian who performs as part of a duo. I only realized when reading reviews that I missed more of the nuance of manzai in my understanding — that is, that there’s often a straight man and a funny man in each duo, which Tokunaga and his mentor, Kamiya, unwittingly act out for the audience of readers.

Part of my issue was I was expecting it to be funny but it’s more about a comedian working through problems in his life, work, and with friends, rather than a focus on the comedy itself. And much of this reflection on life was quite boring. Very little happens besides conversations between the two characters above (though now better understanding manzai that does make more sense), and Kamiya often talked in confusing circles.

The main character also seems to be self-sabotaging and while his role as an unreliable narrator is more evident later in the book, it was hard to believe what he was saying about wanting to pursue a role in comedy when his actions seemed to say something completely different. Plus, the ending was odd and unfortunately the only image in my head when I think back on this book.

I haven’t seen the Netflix adaptation but I’d be curious to see how it tackles the book, though I think it’ll be some time before I’m willing to revisit this story.