REVIEW | 那时的某人 by 東野 圭吾
あの頃の誰か・Someone at that time
AUTHOR: 东野圭吾 (Higashino Keigo）
TRANSLATOR: 吐雅 (Tu Ya)
GENRE: FICTION
ISBN: 9787544767217
FIRST PUBLISHED Jan 2011
EDITION RELEASE DATE: Mar, 2017
PAGES: 211 PAGES
WRITTEN LANGUAGE: JAPANESE
EDITION LANGUAGE: SIMPLIFIED CHINESE
★★
This is a short mystery story collection of Higashino Keigo’s early works. Aka the book that should not be published.
Cover of the Japanese edition
Even Higashino admitted it in the foreword. Talking about how he wasn’t satisfied with these stories, so that’s why they were never published in the first place. But the warm-hearted editor of him insisted on publishing them because of his fan base. So he gave in and we got this book. Well authors, stand by your works! If you don’t think they have the publishing quality, then don’t publish them! It’s the author’s choice after all. Especially Higashino Keigo, who is already a profound mystery writer.
So needless to say this book was a collection of mediocre stories which are not as captivating, not as interesting, and not as worth reading. One of the stories was the outline of one of his full-length novels, Naoko. For readers who want to read the long version, it indeed is a spoiler and kills the anticipation of the story. For readers who have already read the novel, the short story is a way more lame outline.
I’m very disappointed by everyone who’s involved in the decision of publishing and translating this book. It was even translated into Korean!
