The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

I couldn’t wait to finish this book, as much as I resisted its finale! 

I shut my kindle, deeply contented, bearing a smile.

It’s not a book one can wax eloquent upon- simply because its magic lies in its seamless narrative, one that ties up lives through time. Three delinquents are suddenly no longer what they think they are, when letters come and go from within an abandoned house, that they’ve chosen to inhabit- the Namiya General Store.

Thus, begins a passage in time, that is both baffling as it is inventive. 

 Higashino breathes life into his characters without once letting you feel that they are figments of his imagination; that they have been created to suit a story about a General Store that doles out advice on pieces of paper. 

The question that arises in my mind : aren’t we all interconnected? Does the tapestry of our lives not overlap at some point?  I was repeatedly accosted by this idea, while reading the book. 

We are made to walk between now and then, between the future and the past, stringing along the present, where we belong.

Keigo Higashino is a , whose Devotion of Suspect X had me gasping. This one had me devouring its pages. I wanted to know more, to grasp at an impossible secret, I so wished to unravel, without delay. 

Does Higashino wish to tell us something- is that the secret after all- the interconnectedness and oneness of us all?

Was I able to conjure up, in my mind’s eye, all that he painted with his storytelling? Yes. 

Did I enjoy being hooked by this journey, that the skilled angler of a writer had cast upon me? Oh yes!

It’s a tale that begins and ends at the same place, turned on its head. Every person is somehow linked, unfailingly so, and it’s no mean feat to tie such diverse characters, so seamlessly. There is no hiccup or knot, so to speak, when the thread that binds one person to another, comes to light- in the reader’s mind, a switch goes on, and you smile: ah! So that’s how these folks are related- but of course, how did I not see that coming!

Higashino has a knack of looking you in the eye, and smacking you in the face, awakening in you something of a sentiment, akin to- 

“Is it just me, or does Higashino do this to every reader?”

The narrative has you travelling, even so, in Japan of course, with cultural innuendos that add much flavor to the telling. The country, vibrant and alive leaves a trail of Japanese-ness in you.  

You are there, embraced by the immediacy of the writing. 

It’s a book club book, worthy of a discussion, with much to knead and squeeze from the story.  

It’s also a book that makes you wish you had a Namiya General Store around the corner. 

Anymore, and I’d be telling.

©kamalininatesanDec2020