![]() Too often the action slows down for a lengthy aside on a topic such as civic planning or urban real estate, and the characters routinely indulge in hefty interior monologues that mostly underscore what terrible people they are. ![]() However, there’s a lot of filler, and the narrative is almost entirely tell, no show. I’m a big fan of ghost stories, and I don’t want every one of them to reinvent the wheel. One by one, the neighbors move out, and the scary incidents escalate.įrom a high-level genre standpoint, it’s satisfyingly paint-by-numbers-which I don’t say as a criticism, or intend as a backhanded compliment. Immediately upon arrival, their pet bird dies, their small daughter complains of ghostly visits, and their dog behaves weirdly. Sure, it’s surrounded on three sides by an old cemetery and it overlooks a temple with a crematory, but the price is right and the building is practically brand new. ![]() Teppei and Misao Kano are seeking a fresh start in a largely vacant apartment building called the Central Plaza Mansion. ![]() This claustrophobic ghost story does lay down the creepy atmosphere and hit the form’s best notes, but I suspect the reception will be mixed-largely because the book could be at least a third shorter, and its protagonists are real jerks. ![]() It’s been 30 years since The Graveyard Apartment was published in Japan, and now this new translation aims to bring the supernatural stylings of Mariko Koike to a 21st-century English-reading audience. ![]()
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