Tag Archives: Nagaru Tanigawa

Book Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, by Nagaru Tanigawa

The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaDescription from Goodreads:

Haruhi holds the fate of the universe in her hands; lucky for you she doesn’t know it!

Meet Haruhi—a cute, determined girl, starting high school in a city where nothing exciting happens and absolutely no one understands her.

Meet Kyon—the sarcastic guy who sits behind Haruhi in homeroom and the only boy Haruhi has ever opened up to. His fate is now tied to hers.

Meet the S.O.S. Brigade—an after-school club organized by Haruhi with a mission to seek out the extraordinary. Oh, and their second mission? Keeping Haruhi happy—because even though she doesn’t know it, Haruhi has the power to destroy the universe. Seriously.

Review:

I’m pretty sure this is the first Japanese Light Novel I’ve ever read. Heck, I wasn’t even sure what qualified as a Light Novel before yesterday. I do now. I’m probably a bit old for it, but having seen the anime and read a few of the manga volumes, I snapped up the chance to read the novel that sparked the revolution when given the chance. The plot is almost identical to the anime, so if you’ve seen it, you’ll know what to expect. But it’s still worth reading the book so that you can experience Kyon’s sarcastic narrative. He is wickedly funny, as well as all the hormonally charged things you would expect a normal (albeit polite) 16-year-old Japanese boy to be. I did think Suzumiya came across a little crueler here than in the anime or manga, but still a lot of crazy fun.

It was occasionally difficult to tell who was speaking, and sometimes it was hard to decide what was meant to have been spoken out loud and what was just Kyon’s internal dialogue. (Is it a monologue if you’re talking to yourself?). All-in-all, though, the narrative style was easy and made for a quick, fun read. I’d be up for more.