It feels like Uketsu puts something addictive in his books, as Strange Buildings is my third read from the enigmatic Japanese author. He is a bit of a mystery himself (as detailed in this post here) but that only adds to the appeal of these books for me.
Strange Buildings is a continuation, as such, in the series (the previous two books being Strange Pictures and Strange Houses) as the lead character refers to his previous findings that were documented in the first two books. But this can be read as a standalone too.
Opening sentence: On a cold, windy day, I walked through the streets of Umegaoka towards my friend the draughtsman’s flat.
Eleven short stories
I really enjoyed the structure of Strange Buildings, as it was essentially eleven short stories with a summary at the end. All the stories document, as you may have guessed, some discrepancies with the floor plans of buildings. Some are people’s homes, some with other uses.
In my experience, you couldn’t truly understand the secrets of a house without understanding the people living there first.
Our narrator notices a pattern emerging between the stories and that they all have a focus, the mysterious Rebirth Congregation. But what is it, and why did it have a hold over so many people… and buildings? Alongside discovering the emerging links between the stories, there are emotional pockets, some very sad, that emerge in the storytelling too, giving more depth to this tale.
Go with the flow and enjoy
As I have mentioned in my reviews of the previous two books, the only thing that niggles about this Uketsu series is that the storytelling does rely a little on leaps in assumption (with no facts or reason to back it up really) in places in order to move the plot forward. Something one of the characters actually notes in this book…
Oh, let’s leave it at that. It’s all just wild speculation anyway.
Overall, I thought the weaving of the eleven stories was really well done and it certainly does have a clever and satisfying conclusion. I see that book four in the series, Strange Maps is coming soon and I’m here for it. Keep them coming.
- Get your copy of Strange Buildings here;
- Published by Pushkin Press 2026;
- Translated from Japanese by Jim Rion;
- 382 pages;
- Book review rating:
Books on the 7:47 