The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World was our my evergreen readers book club pick for February and it was such a lovely read.
The story centers around two characters who meet while grieving at a real phone booth set in a garden in Japan: a disconnected “wind phone” where people go to speak to loved ones they have lost. One would think that this sounds rather depressing. To be sure, there were a few parts that really hit me in the gut, but overall the tone was uplifting. It felt like reading a fairytale or a fable about love, loss, resilience and, ultimately, joy.
I flew through it in two days and loved the short interim chapter breaks that varied widely and included things like: a list of chocolates the characters eat on a trip to visit the phone, 10 things (plus one!) Hana enjoyed doing with her mother, etc. They seemed like small irrelevant snippets, but were so poignant and intimate, helping to reveal so much about the characters (and the little things in life that mean so much).
I also read this just before the anniversary of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which plays a large role in the story and I think it was good to remember, learn about it, and think about the people rather than a nuclear plant.
Also, this would tick off the box for a novel in translation for anyone doing a reading challenge.