meaningful, but not heavy

Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Rating: 4.5 stars (out 5)

Genre: romance

Review: At 26, Ramona Wilder is done with the spotlight.  A child star who transitioned to being a pop star at the urging of her manipulative mother/manager, she's had enough.  But what is she going to do with the rest of her life?  She'll go to college, she decides, to try to make up for some of the "normal" experiences she missed growing up.  From her first day on campus, Ramona and her psychology professor, recently divorced Nick Navarro, feel undeniably drawn to each other.  Solomon doesn't shy away from the many issues inherent in this scenario: the professor/student relationship, the age gap, and the sexualization of young stars, as seen in the way that Ramona struggles to figure out a way to relate to Nick in anything other than a sexual way.  This is a lot of weight to put on a romance novel, but Solomon is more than up to the task of exploring those issues and also giving us relatable characters and a believable love story.  You'll be rooting for Nick and Ramona's happy ever after all the way through.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

a picture is worth...

The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiigari, translated by Jesse Kirkwood

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: healing fiction

Review: The Lantern of Lost Memories is, at the same time, a cohesive novel, and a collection of three short stories that seem only loosely connected until the end, when the connection becomes much clearer.

Each story begins with a delivery,  The deliveryman, Yama, brings a box to Mr. Hirasaki and they have a cheerful exchange, as they always do.  Yama comments on the size of the box, and makes a prediction about Mr. Hirasaki's next visitor based on the size and heft of the box.  Each box contains photographs - precisely one photograph for every day of the life of the next to visit Mr. Hirasaki's photo studio.

The photo studio is a waystation between life and the afterlife.  The recently deceased must sift through their individual boxes of photos and choose one for each year of their life.  The photos will then be placed on a spinning lantern to give them a last chance to relive their favorite memories.  Additionally, each person has the opportunity to go back to one day in their life to retake a photograph of a special memory.

Mr. Hirasaka is on hand for every state of the journey from death to afterlife, but doesn't know why he's stuck in the liminal space of the photo studio.  Unlike his guests, he has no memories of his life or death, and only a single photograph of himself to go by.  As the last story wraps up, and the threads begin to tie together, we get hints of why this is so, but no clear picture (pun intended) emergese.  Perhaps a sequel is in the works in which Mr. Hirasaka will help more people make the transition from life to death and will also learn more about himself.

Overall, a thoughtful and reflective addition to the healing fiction genre.