The speculative/metaphorical memoir genre has led to some of my all-time favorite nonfiction: In the Dream House, How Far the Light Reaches among them. So I am devastated when a book written in a similar style falls relatively flat to me. It's still a good memoir, but allow me to explain.

First: a personal bias: I was not expecting death to be such a prevalent theme. I figured it would be mentioned, but it was very pervasive and that topic often gives me anxiety and existential dread. This book was a lot sadder than anticipated and if I had known that I probably wouldn't have picked it up.

The premise of combining a memoir about mental illness and pregnancy and grief with a Japanese four-act narrative structure is brilliant. I enjoyed learning about yokai and other figures of legend from various cultures and I think I probably missed out by listening to this as an audiobook and not seeing the illustrations in the text.

However, some of the allusions to mythology and folklore seemed to fragment and confuse the memoir narrative. At times I felt like I wasn't drawing the proper comparisons between the memories presented and their legend/storytelling counterparts. I really wanted to stay engaged in the story, but I felt like I lost the thread a few too many times.

There's definitely something here to learn and reflect on, and this format is unique and thought-provoking. I might just not be its audience.