Review by heyra_ -- Plum Rains on Happy House

[heyra_]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Plum Rains on Happy House" by Michael A. Greco.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Setting in Japan on a guest house, Plum Rains on Happy House by Michael A. Greco is about a young American named Lawrence Thornberry who comes to Japan to teach English language for 1 year in a school called "Slop Bucket". The Ichiban was going to stay in an Inn called "Happy House". The residents there addressed him as Ichiban which means number one because he was staying in Room 1 in the house and it seems like every residents addressed each other with a nickname which you can find out upon reading it. Originally, he was invited by one of the resident from the Inn named Harry Balse until he arrived at the residence and discover no signs of Harry Balse at all till the day he leaves.

As many travelers acknowledge the Japan's distinctive culture or might have the same expectation to receive the warm welcome upon arriving in Japan and considering the westerner's first time to visit Asian country, it is different from what the Ichiban had experienced. He encounters a very weird surrounding from the inn and odd behaviors of the residents throughout his residential there. From the first impression, the house already have the mysterious vibes and aura. It was a dark, cavernous, old place and the house was so dirty that it need to be scrubbed all over. Besides, upon the journey to reach the Happy House itself, the Ichiban already struggle with the map, with it's diagrams were upside down and confusing information which will mislead everyone who referring it.

I didn't expect the book was going to fill with humor and mysterious content at the same time because the genre were mysterious and paranormal and it feels like the Ichiban lived in other parts of the world because it is a wild story which I think it is only suitable for adult readers, if you get what I'm trying to say. After about 2 weeks teaching at Slop Bucket, the Ichiban ran away to turn the run-down guesthouse into a language school because of the absurd experiences which he feels inappropriate to continue teaching at Slop Bucket. Some elements which I liked the most from the book are firstly there is already a funny hint from the book cover alone which I thought it might be a fun book to read until I discover the genre and it was trigger me to get into it more. Apart from that, I really love that the author has a wide range of vocabulary so it gives the readers loads of exposure of new words and terms while reading.

The best part that makes me want to dig in more into the book is the style of narrations. In chapter three on page eighteen, the narrator is one of the resident in the guesthouse and guess what, it was a crow. The author did a good job inserting humor and mysterious style of narrations in this book. There were some elements which I find inappropriate for some group of readers. One of the thing that surprises me was that there were some wild contents from the residents in the guesthouse. An example I can specified is from page 113 that mention because of the wild party, 'a little alcohol and they turn into unclothed lunatics' and the dirty scenes continue throughout few pages which is not suitable for younger readers especially the figure of a paranormal creature that sometimes appear along the chapters.

Overall, I found no grammar or spelling errors in this book except the adult contents which might only be appeal to 18+ audiences and above and a lovers of mysterious and paranormal style book. Therefore, I am rating Plum Rains on Happy House 3 out of 4 stars because I am not sure if many terms used in the book were suitable for all kinds of readers even though I have mentioned previously the group of audiences that might be appeal to. Lastly, I respect that the author have a very good sense of humor to include with paranormal content into this book, but maybe the author can specifically mention what type of readers will suitable for it in the book descriptions.

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Plum Rains on Happy House
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