'The phone box at the edge of the world' is a beautiful, powerful and heartwrenching story about love and grief. It is inspired by real but sad events. In 2011, Japan was hit by a great disaster - the tsunami. I looked up the number of victims on several websites - 19.759 people died.
While I was writing this review, I watched a couple of videos on YouTube, and it's heartbreaking. It's sad to see all these people die.
The fact that such phone box exists in the small town of Otsuchi in Iwate Perfecture amazed me. I didn't know it existed! Itaru Sasaki and his wife worked in the creation of phone box, which is located in Bell Gardia. Bell Gardia is also the main setting of the book, where people can talk with people they lost. After tsunami the number of visiotrs has increased.
***
SUMMARY
Yui, the main character of the book, whose mother and daughter were swept away by the tsunami, went to Bell Gardia after hearing about it. She met Takeshi.
Takeshi lost his wife and was living alone with his daughter Hana. Yui and Takeshi grew close and attempted to find happiness together. Yui, Takeshi and Hana have met many new people who have been coming to Bell Gardia for months, some even for years. They became good friends. Everybody's grief looked different but unique, which is why the book was so essential to me. I didn't dislike a single character. Each person's story connected me to them in some way. I really liked the book!
***
CONCLUSION
Despide the fact that those people lost their loved ones, they still attempted to find happiness. On March 11, 2011, their happiness vanished in the blink of an eye. I believe that people can't forget and of course SHOULD NOT forget people they cared deeply about, especially in such tragedies, but we must remember that we must carry on. WE HAVE TO, because our loved ones would want us to.
My wish is to visit this location and say something to the loved ones I have lost.
_____
Bell Gardia's Website: https://bell-gardia.jp/en/
Buy the book here: amazon