&;lt;quote id="77209">I read a fair amount. In 2009 I put away just over 43,000 pages of fiction. I think I had to look up as many words in the dictionary with which I was unfamiliar with this one book as I did all of last year's reading (I think eight times). Thus the language and phrasing was a real sticking point for me. I too blame the translation.

&;lt;quote id="77209">I rather enjoyed the concepts and the relationships.

I had the same feeling you did regarding Ozu. He seemed like the right person to come in and confirm which people were "the right sort" and which were not -- it is all very well secretly being a genius, but if no one knows it is somewhat unsatisfying. I also enjoyed the sheer ridiculousness of some of the characters described. The girl's mother, for example, or the woman with the dog. And the concierge (even though I know the names of the narrators, I don't find it natural to use them, for some reason) and her friend brewing coffee while drinking tea... I agree: the relationships were very well painted.

What concepts were you thinking about?

&;lt;quote id="77209">I can see some people here really liking and some really hating this book.

Yes.