Two strangers meet in Manhattan and spend a perfect night together. In Tokyo, they have seven days to see if that one night might mean something more.
Landon’s living alone in Tokyo as a British ‘expat’, Louie’s visiting while he anxiously waits for approval on his US visa. Against the backdrop of a misty Tokyo Spring, their precious time together is spent wandering into side streets and coffee shops, sharing unmade beds and plates of food. But as the days tick by, Louie’s expectations start to overtake reality and he falls too deeply for a life that’s not yet his.
Breathtakingly tender, Seven Days in Tokyo is an astonishing debut about the intricacies of desire and a search for belonging. It is a lyrical, immersive portrait of how some things, however beautiful and profound, are destined to be as short-lived as the cherry blossoms.
My thoughts: This is a lyrical, but rather melancholy book, Louie is in Tokyo for a brief few days, where he sees friends, the cherry blossom and tries to fathom out Landon, the Brit he met in New York, but who never really shares much of himself.
Louie doesn’t want to go back to the Philippines for good, but if his American visa doesn’t clear, he will have to, and his brief relationship with Landon, with its deadline of a week, both captures him and confuses him. Landon pushes him away, treats him so casually, but yet, sleeps soundly in his presence and cooks for him, sharing a single plate.
The relationship Louie has with Tokyo, how he falls for the neighbourhood he stays in, with the things he discovers and learns, the beauty of the place, feels much deeper and on leaving, more heartbreaking than leaving Landon. He might well return to Japan, but not to the man.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 