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| Lonely Castle in the Mirror |
Would you share your deepest secrets to save a friend?
In a tranquil neighbourhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining.
At
a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous
castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits and twinkling
chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of
clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish.
But there's a catch: if they don't leave the castle by five o'clock,
they will be punished.
As time passes, a devastating truth emerges: only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved.
***
Lonely Castle in the Mirror
Author : Mizuki Tsujimura
Published year : 2017
Pages : 355
Language: English
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Japan-Lit
Age recommendation : 11+
This book is highly recommended by the literature base, many peoples praised the story and the lovely cover. So, it is natural for me to purchase it once I saw it in the store while hoping this is not another flop popular book.
And I do not regret it at all. This book is a combination of fantasy, folklore, and current issue between teenagers. Most of all, the translator is Philip Gabriel, the well-known name that usually translates Murakami's work.
There is Kokoro, a First-grade of junior high school student that experienced stomachaches whenever she shall go to school in the morning. Its been months, and she cannot go to school because of the last incident. Her mother attempt to introduce her to go to a special school, an alternative school where many children refused to go to conventional school.
At first, Kokoro feels she can manage to go to that school, the teacher also seems caring and understanding, not like at her previous school. But the morning that supposed she go to school, she feels her stomachache. Her mother is frustrated as well.
So, Kokoro spend her days at home, watching television until she saw a glow from the mirror in her bedroom. She touched it and was sucked into an unknown world where there is a glam castle and six other kids also a little girl wearing a wolf mask but acting like a queen.
The wolf girl starts to introduce herself and her palace, that castle is only open during the day until five o'clock, or else the wolves will hunt them if they are still in the castle. Everyone gets a tailored room that matches their personality. There is no water or food in the castle, but there is electricity. There is also a wishing key that can grant one wish only.
When someone finds the key and the wish is granted, the castle will cease to exist and the memory will be wiped from them. The castle is only open until 30 March next year.
At first, Kokoro is scared and tries to run away from the castle. Disbelieved what she just experienced. All six other students seem like at the same age, junior high school students, but they are different. Seven of them, three are girls, and the rest are boys.
But curiosity gets the best of her. She tried to visit the castle once again, and it still exists, some children enjoy their time by bringing the game console and playing together. Some other girls rather spend their days in their room in the castle. Kokoro's room is also very beautiful with lots of foreign book in it, especially books by Hans Christensen that reminds her of her problem in real life.
Slowly as the plot progressed, the reader knows what happened with Kokoro at her previous school. There is a new girl that lives as her neighbor and suddenly wants to be her friend. That's strange since Kokoro is not a popular girl. But since then, it is like Kokoro's life put under the spotlight. The problems came uninvited into her calm life.
And in the castle, she gets to know everyone slowly. Though at first, they didn't want to open up, everyone seems to understand that six of them, except Rion, a boy, didn't go to school anymore. Anyone struggles with something.
Then, when they finally spend days together almost every day, they discussed whether to find the wishing key. Everyone agrees that when somebody finds it, should use it until the last day of the castle opening so they can still visit the castle.
But when they grew closer, they didn't want their memories erased. Even they made a promise to meet in the real life and support each other.
In the last three chapters, the plots are unpredicted and twisted which made up my mind blown. I will say that the best part because aside from the plots, the character development is so real and their relationship is so pure that reminds us of our adolescent years.
I think at that age, we always need a friend who accepts us the way we are, even if it is only a single person that makes a reason we want to go to school. The ending is so good, how the author weaves all the single thread and reveals it in the end.
Well, no wonder it gets a high rating on Goodreads. The character, the magic realms, the plot, and the diction is top-notch. We can get all the feelings from the book without feeling miserable after reading it. Instead, it touches right at our kokoro (read: heart), and reminds us to always be kind in this world.
This year, I started with Heaven and Lonely Castle in the Mirror, which put us in the perspective of school, adolescent years, and always being kind.
It is a good year to read!
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