This unique selection was the first read in our 2020 Siblings’ Book Club, and I’m not yet certain how all the family—especially the ladies—liked it. Aliens, war, relentless killing, cursing and battlefield jokes about sex—this one has it all, apparently. At the time of selection, there were comments of the over-masculinity of our choices this year, but all six of us voted, and fair is fair!
Personally, I had to get over all the f-bombs and crude humor in this book before I began appreciating its intense creativity. Having already seen its film adaptation (that great Tom Cruise flick, The Edge of Tomorrow), I had a rough idea of the plot going in. Thankfully, however, the film wasn’t a mirror-image of the book, and characters in both differed enough so as to make the book just as fascinating as the movie. Also, only one of two finished with anything close to resolution, which helps justify the changes in the other.
Like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, the concept of reliving one’s day (or life) over and over is a fascinating concept that must be extremely difficult to put down on paper in any believable way. It’s a fantasy that we all have, perhaps, whether it’s for the sake of making right our mistakes or taking chances that we normally wouldn’t dare. Sakurazaka masterfully crafts such a situation for Private Kiriya at the Japanese front lines of a global alien invasion, and (even though we have a sense of where the story is headed) the short book really is hard to put down.
Living overseas, I don’t have access to normal English libraries like the rest of you, so I often have to depend on Amazon or (Heaven forbid) torrent sites to gain access to books on my reading list. When searching for this, I could find it only in audio and graphic-novel form. Lacking a device large enough for enjoying a graphic novel, I chose the audio-book route. The reader (Mike Martindale) was clear and carried enough emotion in his voice to give the story life without being distracting. I listened to the story over the Lunar New Year celebrations and let the fireworks add some extra appeal to the battle scenes.
For the Christian reader, do be aware that this book contains a great deal of coarse language and situations. As far as I can recall, the movie was slightly cleaner (though it’s definitely not suitable for children). This is an adult story with adult themes and fantasies. There are attempts at religious undertones, but at least they’re Judeo-Christian and not based on Scientology. In fact, I was pretty surprised to learn that Tom Cruise’s most successful sci-fi flick in recent years hadn’t first been penned by L. Ron Hubbard!
It’s a worthwhile and entertaining read, and I do recommend it. Just beware of those reservations and be your own judge.
©2019 E.T.