Lonely Castle in the Mirror: The no. 1 Japanese bestseller and Guardian 2021 highlight

I didn’t like it even after reading more than half the book but then everything changed. It’s now a all time favourite.

There's nothing better than a back-to-school book to make you all nostalgic about those long lost days of childhood innocence. Lonely Castle in the Mirror is one such book which brings together the world of fairytales and the more realistic world of bullying and emotional distress amongst kids. The book is best suited for a younger audience. As an adult, though I enjoyed the subject matter and storyline, but the overly simplistic language put me off at times. It could be that the essence got lost in translation. Nevertheless, would recommend this book just because of the important topics that it covers with an extremely child-appropriate manner!

This was in some ways a strange read, rather hard to classify and yet one I ended up enjoying very much.Our story opens with Kororo Anzai, a teen who has just started junior high but who we see is unable to go to school anymore because of what she faced there. She spends her time in her room, unable to eat properly, watching TV but not taking it in, not wanting to open the curtains, and certainly not ever stepping out. Her parents are very supportive, not forcing her into going to school but also find themselves helpless, since they don’t really know what she’s going through, and how they can help her (I found them refreshing since the stereotypical parent would not have reacted this way). Then one day, in Kokoro’s room, the mirror begins to glow and she is drawn into a different world. Here she meets a young girl in a wolf mask who tells her that this place, this castle will be open to her and six others—Aki, Masumane, Rion, Fuka, Subaru, and Ureshino—different from her and yet like her, who have also entered this place through their mirrors, for a period of a year, until the 30th of March. In this they must find a key and the one who finds it can have their wish come true. There are rules of course—the castle is open only from 9 to 5 and anyone who stays back after the appointed time will be eaten!!!Told essentially from Kokoro’s viewpoint, we travel between Kokoro’s world and the world of the castle. In the real world, we start to learn what Koroko has faced at the hands of bullies, led by the ‘popular’ girl in her class, and how this had made her fearful of even stepping out of the house, even though she would like to have friends, and go to school—in fact school is the only world she can conceive of at that point. The world in the Castle at first seems to Kokoro no different from junior high—but as she begins to get to know the others, she finds she actually begins to have friends. With her we begin to see little titbits of each of their lives, and as the book moves on learn their stories. Each of them has faced some problems in their lives because of which they are unable to attend or face school—we learn of this and also of their different talents and interests. But there is more that connects them than first meets the eye, and as we read on, secrets are revealed and we also see the power of human connection—that by helping and supporting one another, much can be overcome, and one can even come out of the deepest recesses.To start off with I will have to say that one will have to suspend disbelief a bit when reading the book because fantasy and reality intermingle throughout (in fact at some level, this reminded me a little of the anime/manga Fuishigi Yugi/Curious Play in which also the fantasy part connects up with reality in unexpected ways). At some level, one has to see it as a piece of magic that helps these kids face their problems, and gives them the strength to pull out of it.When it started out, more than the fantasy element in the story, it was the real world that interested me—what had actually happened with Kokoro, would she be able to overcome it, how, and aspects like that. But with the fantasy element also came the other six characters and slowly we begin to learn about their lives and stories and this too begins to grip you. You want to know what they have faced, and want that things turn out ok for them too. Most of them have faced pain and hurt, and one really begins to feel for them. (One also realises how something that may seem ‘minor’ from one person’s point of view could affect another so much more deeply, perhaps another reason to be more conscious of one’s actions.)The castle is a place of solace for them all, where they can escape reality and its problems, do things that interest them (each of them has a room there plus common spaces)—as time passes rather than being in their rooms, they begin to go to meet each other and spend time with each other. The key and the wish are secondary for it is the comfort that the castle provides that they need. They also begin to realise how they can support one and another, perhaps not just in the castle.This story had so many secrets, twists and turns, some of which one doesn’t see coming at all. The characters try to unravel them as we go along, but answers are not always easily arrived at, and there is more than one twist awaiting us. This was an element I really enjoyed in the book.The book deals with a lot of difficult issues, from bullying and harassment to death and loss, but, it is still heart-warming and at the end of the story one, comes away feeling positive and full of hope, knowing that things will be ok.I loved the plot, liked the characters and the incorporation of fairy-tale elements, and found this a really touching read.4.5 stars rounded off to 5

Do you ever get the feeling that you're gonna love a book even before reading it? I do, and this one is just the perfect example.TW>> BullyingWhen I first discovered Lonely Castle In The Mirror, I knew straightaway that it was written for me. It instantly belonged to me in ways one belongs to the Universe. I didn't bother checking the reviews. I didn't have to.This book is a feeling. In fact, it doesn't feel like a book at all. It feels like a hug. A warm hug in a stormy, chilly night. Don't forget hot cocoa.I don't know if I disliked any character. Yeah okay, may be a few (because they deserved it) but the rest? Aw my little munchkins! Found family has never been better! I loved how the story has been narrated from the view point of Kokoro. She has been the perfect neutral centre. Everything's not about her, yet she keeps things together. She is timid, yet she's so brave. She's a loner, yet such a good friend.This story is so wholesome that by the end of it, you're gonna be full. Full with love, warmth, longing and content. The magical realism imbibed a whole new mood, and though it wasn't the only highlight, it was definitely one of the cherries in the top. In fact, it was the backbone of the story.Kokoro, Rion, Aki, Masamune, Subaru, Ureshino, Fuka, you'll find a friend in each and every one of them and letting go is gonna be so so hard. The best thing is, the story's not just character driven. The plot would make your mind go la la la! Trust me, if you think you've figured it out, well you actually haven't. The climax will throw you off your chair and the surprise continues on to the very epilogue. If you read one book this year, let it be this.

A beautiful book full of pain and joy. Although I made it through school, I was often misunderstood and mostly bullied by teachers. I was told I was hopeless. Yet I made it to 74, had a good job and a nice life. Those school years mark you forever and have left their indelible trace. I wish I had had a lonely castle and friends to rely on. It might have made a difference. A beautiful read.

TRIGGER WARNING: discusses child sexual abuseThis is a beautiful book, cleverly constructed and full of hope for bullied kids, and kids who ‘don’t fit in’. The author bravely addresses bullying in schools alongside bereavement, ‘not fitting in’, and child sexual abuse. She gives kids hope that life can be better and there are people who can help, even with the really traumatic things in kids’ lives. An important book. I wish I had had this as an abused child growing up in the 1980s.

This is a slow burner of a book and for a good chunk of it, you could say that nothing really happens or is revealed. However, it's the final section of Lonely Castle in the Mirror where this book comes into its own.If you've ever felt ostracised from your peers during your school days, this will resonate so well. This touches on the increasing mental health issues that Japan’s youngsters, unfortunately, experience heavily.Extremely emotional towards the end, especially once the wolf is revealed as such, and quite unexpected too, this is a beautiful premise of a book.With selected fairy tales woven in throughout the book, and many so unknowingly and seemingly, this is effortlessly translated. This is also certainly one of those books that I will return to and no doubt see things I didn’t see before because there are many layers to this.

Seven teenagers find a portal through their mirrors into a magic castle and meet a Wolf Queen who tells them they have been invited to hunt for a key that could grant one of their wishes. That premise alone is absorbing enough to attract a keen fantasy reader.However, instead of driving this rather captivating premise forward, the focus lands on one of the teens, Kokoro, from whose perspective the story is told, and the details of her life on the “right” side of the mirror takes up much of the plot. We find out she has not been attending school for reasons she has been unable to reveal to her concerned parents, so the castle becomes a place of refuge for her.It becomes clear that the others come to the castle to get sway from their own struggles on the other side of the mirror. The way all the characters get together, and the way their relationships develop, as possible rivals for the key, and the changing dynamics of the group as they navigate their disparate personalities, make for interesting reading, but as I approached the 50% mark of the novel, I was a little concerned that the whole fantastical set up at the start of the novel might all but collapse.The teens lounge around, in their various permutations and combinations, either playing video games or sizing one another up, and in some parts, even wonder aloud at the fact that they seem to have forgotten about the quest, which the writer tries to justify, with somewhat debatable success.However, the plot did pick up and shift rather subtly for me, as the clues the Wolf Queen had been throwing at the group started to make sense to the reader. I think this is where the reader becomes more actively engaged with Kororo’s consciousness, as she begins to piece the puzzle together, and where the reader also realises that all those detours away from the quest and into the characters’ inner lives, are actually central to the story. The fantasy and realistic elements do really add up in the end, and though the first half of the novel may try the patience of some readers at first, the way the writer ties up all the loose ends is well worth the investment, at least for me.This novel is so much more than an urban fairytale or a straightforward fantasy quest, because it explores school bullying, children’s mental health and their psychological well-being, urgent real-life issues that are imaginatively and yet realistically dealt with.

This book spoke to my 13 y/o so much it restored her love of reading after a dip. For that, I was so grateful I read it myself and fell totally under its spell. Unique, poignant, life-affirming.