Three Days of Happiness (Light Novel) - Reviews

I'm at a loss of what to say in this review, but hopefully the words will come to me as I type. I think I'll seperate this into two sections-- my thoughts as a reader and my perspective as an individual human being. I'll start with the former. 

• The story is about a boy, Kusunoki, whose life is utterly pointless and devoid of meaning. Not to say that he's a terrible person or that he finds no enjoyment in life, but that it's all so mundane and just enough for someone to stay-- what I'd consider-- just on the edge between sanity and insanity. He exists because he exists, and he has this small shrivel of hope, nurtured by childhood memories, that his life will be better one day. This doesn't stop him from selling his lifespan, because we the reader and he the character know that this hope is fruitless. Just something to hold on to when you have nothing worth living for left. 

• I did not expect a certain character to be as important as she was, and I had assumed the girl on the cover to be Himeno. I'm glad I was wrong, I enjoyed the romance and the sincerity of it. When I first started reading this, I expected Kusunoki to spend the rest of his time reviving his friendship with Himeno and eventually they'd fall in love. It was just part of the aforementioned 'hope' that I had adopted from Kusunoki's narrating. 

• There were times where Kusunoki had ugly thoughts, and times he regretted even thinking them. He was inconsistently consistent and deprived of events he wished to happen (stemmed from his childhood). He felt emotions and did things knowing that they'd contribute nothing after his death, but maybe that's what made him want to feel them in the first place. Or maybe it's for something else entirely (it's both).

• Kusunoki is not coddled by the people from his past. He is not suddenly cushioned because he now has an expiration date. It's tragic but real. Not in a sense that that's what would happen in reality, but that it makes sense when you look at how he'd lived his life up to that point.

On to my more personal feelings.

• I resonated with Kusunoki, not to sound like some edgelord. I was a gifted child who burnt out as I grew older, an aspiring artist whose talent and motivation died with the rest of my potential. I gave up on improving myself and yet expected something great and big to happen to me. Because there's no way I could accept that the once amazing 'me' would just be left to rot in my past. 

• I even also have a childhood friend I fell in love with. By childhood friend I don't mean someone I was friends with since childhood, but someone who was my friend during childhood. It's been a decade since I've seen him, but he crosses my mind every now and then. He probably doesn't even remember me anymore. I recall times with one of my other friends a lot too. I remember I still owe her some cheetos because I would beg her for some of her snacks almost every recess. I remember playing everyday with her and always looking forward to the small joys that came with having friends in elementary school. These are precious memories to me, and they remain so despite how far back into the past I have to look for them. I find it beautifully ugly how these core memories I have are probably so insignificant and unimportant to them. They may not even remember me. Unlike Kusunoki, I won't be looking to repaint my memory of them. I want them to stay as pleasant childhood times forever. This is what I'm saying now, but who knows what I'll do in the future. I'm happy that this book dug these thoughts and feelings out of me. It makes me feel grateful for the contentment I still experience when I recall these people of my past. I don't want them to see how I've become, not because I'm particularly disappointed in myself, but because I'm not the same girl I was before. 

• I was in the trenches of depression for 6 years. I consider myself to be out of them now, although I still revisit those feelings every now and then. I like the self-reflection this novel forced me to have and I want to reach the same level of happiness that Kusunoki and a certain someone reached those last three days. 

• I've always wanted to write a book. I've had the idea for one for quite some time now, and the principles of Three Days of Happiness are quite similar to it. Maybe that's another big reason why I loved and enjoyed this book so thoroughly. I like to think that I'm good at writing and if I ever did give myself chance I hope I can write like this author. 

I'm sorry this review is so long and maybe a bit too personal, but I felt I'd be doing an injustice by not sharing my entire experience. Especially considering this'll be the novels first review. 

I want to share this quote from the authors note at the end:

"When misery is part of your identity, then not being miserable means not being yourself. The act of self-pity, meant to help you bear your unhappiness, becomes its own form of pleasure, and you will eventually seek out unhappiness so that you can indulge in it.

But as I wrote above, I think these fools are cured before they die. Or to be more precise, I think they find that cure right before death. The lucky ones might have an opportunity to fix themselves before it gets to that point, but even the unlucky ones, when they intuitively sense that their death is unavoidable, when they are finally free of the shackles of the compulsion to go on living—they are at last liberated from this type of foolishness." -- Sugaru Miaki 

I hope every burnt out gifted kid stumbles across this book. 

Happy reading!