Wonderful Half Ari Ryn Review: Quite Wonderful but with Painful Reality
Wonderful Half by Ari Ryn is a contemporary YA fiction set in 2000s Japan. It’s Ari’s debut novel, and I received an ARC copy from him. Although I went in knowing very little about the story, I felt I was in for something special the moment I started reading... and I was right. This is my review as an absolutely mesmerised reader.
It’s one of those rare stories that feels lived-in rather than written from imagination. Details like a red lighthouse here, an unknown (but locally popular) shrine there made it real. But the story was full of pains. It was quite wonderful but with painful reality of three friends.
My Rating:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
“Quite wonderful but with painful reality.”
Check Wonderful Half on Goodreads
What the Book is About
Wonderful Half is a story set in Japan around the millenium. It revolves around a lonely fourteen-year-old boy, Kentaro. He has one friend, Naoki, and later befriends Akira, a foreign boy – half-Japanese, half-Polish. These three boys spend their days wandering, trying to make sense of their lives while struggling with issues both at home and at school.
The book is about several things in life, actually – loneliness, bullying, self-harm, depression, family dysfunction. Harsh realities, you know. The good thing is that everything is revealed gradually. Nothing is dumped on you at once.
It puts its weight on you slowly. Each theme comes up one by one as Kentaro’s story progesses, and that hits you harder when it does.
What Works?
I loved how real everything felt in the pages of Wonderful Half. Yeah, even though it's a work of fiction. Everything reads like a real story of three youngsters working out a messy life as they grow. Ordinary, everyday moments and little neighbourhood adventures. Nothing too dramatic. Nothing too grand. I was completely engrossed in it from the beginning to its end.
The slow, small-town Japanese setting adds a kind of nostalgic warmth that keeps the story from feeling too heavy. I have always believed that Japan has something that makes everything feel cosy. And the book had that cosy charm, even when the subject matter is a tad disturbing.
Also, the portrayal of friendship, in all its complexity, was so lovely. The story felt both beautiful and painful. Ari didn't go into entire flashbacks explaining everything at once, and it seemed the pacing was deliberately kept slow. Things settled properly, slowly, comfortably because of that.
And thanks to this book, I now know Japan has a humid, sweltering summer season. Reading it while suffering through our Indian summers made it all too real.
What Falls Short?
Nothing much seems to be wrong with Wonderful Half, honestly. If you're going in expecting a fast-paced story, this doesn’t have that. It's intentionally slow. And this slow, unhurried kinda pace is part of the story’s charm. If you appreciate such stories, you’re gonna love it.
Who Should Read It?
Wonderful Half is for anyone looking for a contemporary YA fiction. A coming-of-age novel without elements of romance or spice. It has that slice-of-life story like vibe. And if you enjoy stories that are human and hit hard, you'll love this one.
Final Thoughts
Ari Ryn’s Wonderful Half is a wonderful debut. It’s enchanting kind of, beautiful in it’s own style, while exploring the pains of real life. It's a story about growing up in the middle of everything falling apart, and It’s messy... just like life.
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