Today, I am conflicted. ^_^

Kohaku no Kijo (琥珀の貴女) is a short story collection by Higashikawa Mizo and, like most short story collections, it has some tropes of short story writing that places it directly in the middle of my aversion to short story collections. ^_^; On the other hand, the art and some of the writing was pretty solid.

The first story relies on what has become a standard Yuri trope – a woman falls for the sex worker she hires.  This is complicated by the fact that the woman really knows nothing of the sex worker’s life, and is missing a great deal of information. An unlikely twist occurs, but they find a way to help one another. The next story is wrapped around a manipulative relationship and for this one, the handwave is that it has lasted for a unreasonably long time.

The next story was the one where I put the book down and thought – do I want to keep reading this? Which has lead to today’s conflict. The answer to “do I want to keep reading this” turned out to be “yes,” but then it shifted to – is there something here worth writing about? In this third story the twist is again rather tragic and the narrative equivalent of a truck slamming into you – blunt and designed to damage. Not to put too fine a point on it – not every short story needs a twist.

So why am I reviewing this book? Because despite the fact that all the stories, including the heavily emotional final story, are rooted in tragedy and conflict being avoided/denied until it is too late, there is a complexity to the characters. They aren’t just victims of their imaginations, or lack of initiative, or self-preservation. They are actively looking to see the good in other people….even when other people are the problem.

Ratings:

Art – A solid 7, with moments of 8
Story – 5
Characters   –  6 Very cloudy skies clearing up
Service – 1 a little bit for effect
Yuri – 8

Overall – 7

The theme, while not enough to make me “like” this collection, made me want, in the end, to review it. It’s been a tough year for me, I’m not really in the mood for tragic twists and unpleasant partnerships that linger….but I am reminded that even in dark places, some people are decent. It was a good reminder.