I Have a Secret (Novel) - Reviews

This is my least favorite of Sumino Sensei's novels. Perhaps it's because I did not fully understand it. All of his works are meaningful and explore life from the perspective of youth. This novel is separated into five sections, each from the perspective of a different classmate, each with their own unique power. I understood the plot and resolution at face value but struggled to see the underlying meaning and "moral of the story" that Sumino Sensei's books have. 

The novel follows the daily lives and romances of five close friends in high school. Each chapter is told from the point view of one of them, and has a very definite style. Namely, each youth has a “power” that lets them see the emotions of others in some special way: one sees punctuation marks over the heads, another sees some kind of compass, another sees gaming-card symbols, etc.

I can’t say much more on the plot without spoiling the whole experience: the powers are basically a metaphor for each character’s empathy, and the interest of the novel lies in the very unusual way in which it is told due to them.