This is a great book. I loved the author's idea of exploring what might happen after we die and also how we realise in the end the connections between characters, just like in life. Overall, it is a very authentic and thoughtful book.

I received this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

A cosy read for those interested in Japanese story telling. This book reminds me so much of a film called “After life” so if you have seen or have heard of it, You would be familiar with the Nippon idea of “limbo”.

The book is very short and tells only 3 different stories all set in the same little room where a man helps you pick photographs (memories) from your own life, one per year lived. So if you die at 50, then is 50 pictures they don’t have to be one for each year, you can choose more than 1 from the same period of your life, but it gets very interesting where some photos are very faded and you can actually go back to that specific moment and take a fresh photograph.

The story is well developed and easy to follow, it’s a nice read for a rainy Sunday afternoon where you just want something entertaining. I absolutely adore stories like this. For the lovers of Before Coffee gets cold (Toshikazu Kawaguchi) or Strangers (Taichi Yamada)
Highly recommend

The Lantern of Lost Memories is a novel that is poignantly written and deals with themes of death and the afterlife.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The characters were nice, and I liked the whimsical yet magical feel of the book. Can't wait to discover more books like this one, as it is one novel that will stay with you for a long time, making you reflect on life and how we live it.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a delightful book to read. A pure joy and full of reading pleasure from start to finish.

A breath of fresh air, fragrant jasmine or sweet cherry blossom. Beautifully translated to allow the English reader to slip comfortably under the duvet of Japanese culture and tradition. To envisage and be very present, in a strange and foreign environment yet feel at ease and like you’ve come home.

Many societies and faiths have concepts of death and the journey onwards once your earthly time is over.

How wonderful to imagine a photo studio and the chance to revisit precious memories and reflect on your life with one last defining image. Lyrical, enchanting and quite unforgettable storytelling raising one’s mood and refreshing your very soul.

I loved the concept of a captured image from each passing year of life, to recall those who supported and enriched your time on earth. To play flapping photos, like when required in reading a Dog Man book, animating a set of stills into a motion picture; a cartoon like representation of a life, well lived.

Memorable and moving literature at its best.

Life affirming and rewarding for any reader picking up this book.

What a book! I’m a huge fan of this genre so was excited to read it. I found it very reflective and emotional. Such an interesting premise to a book. Highly recommend

It's weird to describe a book that deals so directly with death as warm and cozy but that's exactly what this was.
The Lantern of Lost Memories was like a warm hug that also happened to induce tears and give you pause for reflection.
A short but impactful story. While the stories are short, they pack their punch and leave you with a sense of bittersweet satisfaction.

The flowy nature of the writing is well translated enhancing the story.

In a studio in the mountains somewhere between this world and the next a stack of photographs lies waiting. One photograph for everyday of your life. Once someone arrives in the studio they are able to go back in time to one of the pictures.

For fans of When the Coffee gets Cold this cosy Japanese novel was both comforting and heart warming; a truly cosy and entertaining read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Lantern of Lost Memories is by acclaimed Japanese author, Sanaka Hiiragi. It is translated by Jesse Kirkwood. It is a collection of three interconnected stories in which the recently-departed find themselves in a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next. In each story, delivery driver Yama has just deposited a parcel containing photographs, while the unremarkable but somehow familiar Mr Hirasaka serves his new guest a cup of perfectly brewed tea.

Mr Hirasaka explains that the person will look through the photographs of themselves, and choose one for each year of their life. They will have the opportunity to revisit one day in their life, and take a photograph using one of the myriad of cameras that Mr Hirasaka has in his equipment room. With the photographs the person has chosen, he will construct a lantern that will allow these images to flash before them, after which they will pass from the world.

Hatsue Yagi is ninety-two when she arrives at the studio, impressed by the place and the tea, and glad to be pain-free. But choosing ninety-two photographs from the enormous pile that makes up her life, well, who knew death could be so exhausting?

The photo of the day she chooses to revisit shows her at twenty-three with a group of parents and children in front of an old bus, and while they wait for the bus to arrive, she tells Mr Hirasaka the story behind it. She asks Hirasaka how he ended up at the photo studio, but he can’t enlighten her.

The next person Hirasaka has to usher to the afterlife has a red flag: a death by violent means. Forty-seven-year-old Shohei Wanigichi has a criminal record so long he can’t even remember all of the things he’s done, but it ended with a sword in his back.

Once he accepts the facts of his death, he sorts through his photos and chooses one with three subjects: him; the oddball repairman, a meticulous fixer, who worked for him, Michiya (whom everyone called The Mouse); and a very young customer, a Vietnamese boy who was mercilessly bullied by other students until Shohei steps in. He tells Hirasaka the story as they wait for the photo’s subjects to gather.

Again, Hirasaka is asked about his own history, of which he has no memory, and just the one photo of himself. He hopes that, of the thousands of people who pass through the studio, someone will recognise him and be able to tell him more. Is what Shohei gives him a tiny clue?

A young girl called Mitsuru Yamada is another visitor, and the photos Yama delivers that make up her life have so disturbed Hirasaka, he goes beyond his designated role when he takes her into the past; the photo she takes is unlike the others, as is the end of her time in the studio. A beautifully crafted, moving tale.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Picador.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this book

* Emotinal
*Compassion
* Remembrance
* Life & Death
* Whimsical
* Love

This is the story of the peculiar and magical photo studio owned by Mr. Hirasaki, a collector of antique cameras. In the dimly lit interior, a paper background is pulled down in front of a wall, and in front of it stands a single, luxurious chair with an armrest on one side. On a stand is a large bellows camera. On the left is the main studio; photos can also be taken in the courtyard.

This was a Beautiful story about Hatsue, a ninety-two year old woman who worked as a nursery teacher, who showed love to so many caring for the next generation. In the afterlife scanning the pictures of her life full of memories that show she never wasted a moment and didn't have many regrets, with one of her faviourte memories where her with the children she looked after & be taken back to that time to see why the picture was so important
was magical to see and it made me get more emotionally attached to Hatsue and her life she was telling us about.

The translation from Japanese to English has made me happy because I would not of wanted to miss reading this beautiful story, as well as the others that come to the photo room.

Heart warming as well as showing the beauty that every life has though memory and also being able to look at things taken for granted until the last moments we can finally appericate the simplicity.

Beautifully written.

What a beautifully created book, which left me with so much to think about.
The story follows 3 people who have died, who arrive at Mr. Hirasaka's photo studio and are allowed to relive one memory before embarking on their journey into the afterlife. The story shows that no matter how you may view things it may not always be what it seems, and you never realise how big of an impact you can make on someone else (big and small, positive and negative) and that every action has a reaction. I loved how their stories were explained and the realisations afterwards and how they were all interconnected in ways they did not know. Such an eye opening novel that really makes you sit back and appreciate life and the power we have to change our path before it is too late.

A really interesting story that pulls you in and then surprises you with with the direction it takes. I was interested from the start and liked how each of the three chapters focused on a different persons favourite memory. Will definitely read mor by this author as I liked the writing style.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC for this book.

I took my sweet time in finishing this book and first of all, I loved the concept behind these stories.

It would be such a unique thing to experience that once you die, you get to visit a place that allows you to revisit one of the significant moments from your whole life by choosing a picture.

The idea of a lantern that replays your whole life before the final destination is so well-done. It also goes from stories that go from normal to intense in no time. The last story is bound to shatter your soul into a million pieces. But I love how the author wrapped up these stories.

It is one of those books that will stay with you for a long time. Despite having read its ebook, I actually bought the physical copy too because I cannot miss the opportunity of it being a part of my book collection.

It is always a pleasure to start a book and unexpectedly enjoy it while also being able to finish it in one sitting. Given how tight my days are nowadays, that last bit is definitely the icing on the cake.

This is a sweet and short collection of three seemingly separate stories. I kept thinking the end was too close ( based on the kindle’s assessment of my reading speed) for the end to satisfactorily either tie up the stories together or give me a suitable explanation for the ‘mystery’ part of our central protagonist. I was thankfully very wrong.

I will not go into too much detail because the explanation is part of the experience. The simplest explanation is that this is a version of the wait between death and the after. The in-between is a place of retrospection and we get to meet three recently dead people and that man who is to help them move on. All three do not have equal time on paper. We spend longer on the first, and gradually the narration moves faster.

I was a little teary after the ending. The translation works well and it brought the emotion to the surface while not taking away the fact that this is based in a different non-english speaking country. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in translated works or just anyone fond of these kinds of topics.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

A beautiful, thought-provoking meditation on life and death. Although it will inevitably invite comparison with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Lantern focuses not on those left behind but on those departed. It felt like a privilege to be party to the after-death experiences of the characters, and I feel Hiiragi should be commended for imbuing each character with enough detail to really care about them, despite the relatively short time spent on each one.

It made me cry not only for the characters, but I found myself thinking, inevitably, of my father who passed away a few months before, particularly as I'd put together a sideshow of photos of him throughtout his life for his funeral service. It gave me some comfort to imagine him as a character in the book getting the chance to view a slideshow of his life and wondering what memory he would revisit.

There are a lot of #translatedjapanesefiction with various gimmicks, time travel and cats, cats and more cats 😂😂😂.

#thelanternoflostmemories by #sanakahiiragi translated by #jessekirkwood is original and different in my opinion and has no cats you maybe happy to hear (not sure why there is one on these covers!). There is a clear system or process and it is a privilege to view each person's cherished memories.

Spolier alert********

I love how the memories overlap and I really liked the final memory, how it was different and how it connects to the lead character.

I think with this book, it should be left alone as it is. It's not a concept that can be made into a series lokec#beforethecoffeegetscold but I didn't think that could be multiple books either and I love them.

If you want somerting heart warming, compassionate and with some interesting twists then give this book a go, it's brilliant.

#honnomushi100 #reading #japanesefiction #translatedfiction #translatedjapaneseliterature #booksfromjapan #booklover #bookstagram #translatedgems #japaneseauthor #translatedjapaneseliterature #japaneselit #JAPANESEAUTHORS #newjapanesefiction #newbooks2024

“The more important a memory, the more we find ourselves revisiting it”
The novel is set in a magical photography studio owned by Mr Hirasaka, a collector of antique cameras
The studio exists as a transition point between this world and the next, where people go after they die to view key moments of their life and relive one precious memory before they pass into the afterlife
Loved how each chapter followed a new person entering the studio
It’s heartwarming, life-affirming and such a comforting read
Yes it deals with death and there were emotional moments but on the whole it’s a celebration of life
What would your lantern look like?
Thanks #sanakahiragi @panmacmillan & @netgalley for the magical read

This is a gentle and beautifully written book about the period between life and death, where photos are collated of each person’s life.

It’s perfect for anyone who has read and enjoyed When the coffee gets cold.

Heartwarming, at times bitter sweet and unique. Three people enter a photography studio on their way to the afterlife, but this is no ordinary studio. Each person must select one photo for each year in their life, to watch on the lantern before moving on… Including an 82 year old school teacher, a 47 year old criminal and a young, neglected, abused child.
Before The Coffee Gets Cold meets The Midnight Library. Beautifully written, sweet life lessons and lovable characters.
I really enjoyed it and would love to read a sequel!

Apparently I am having an existential crisis, because the last few translated fiction I’ve read were along the lines of looking back in to your past and reliving moments. This book was no exception.

The Lantern of Lost Memories features a photography studio where people go after they have passed on. Whilst there, they are given the chance to go back and recapture a photograph/memory from their life.

The stories in this are very thought provoking and heart warming.

I would grab a few packs of tissues, because this will bring on some tears.

I love these books and this one was no different

Easy to read
I just sat back, relaxed and read in one go

Loved it