The Phone Box at the Edge of the World

Reminds me of Elegance of the Hedgehog

Firstly the phone box and the phone booth are the same exact thing just the part of the world you happen to come from.Yui is struggling to deal with the loss of her family after a national disaster. Her thoughts feelings and ideas all relate to her time spent in a shelter as a survivor. She focuses heavily on the other survivors and she is stuck in survival mode. When she learns of the phone box / booth at the end of edge of the world. She decides to see if it is a way that she can communicate and make peace with her loss and move on with her life. She meets a vast array of characters all at different stages of moving on and their grief and loss due to tragedy and other situations that have happened in their lives. She meets one man in particular who she develops a relationship with and his daughter and as she moves on she then grows in life and starts living her real life again and not dwelling on the past.The narrative offers that anybody can build a shrine to family and go to it and remember family and continue to use life. They need not go to a destination but in this book it is a real place and it is a very helpful device for these characters to use.I did not find the book to be at all sad although it was definitely emotional. it ends up being very fun and light-hearted as she develops relationship with the new characters and the world around her starts to live again. very rewarding and satisfying.

Arrived fine

This book is the reason why I joined a book club!! I would never have decided to read it off my own back.What a beautiful, beautiful book. It is based on a true story of a phone box in the small town of Otsuchi in northern Japan, an area that was devastated by the tsunami. People travel too to talk to loved ones they have lost. The phone isn't connected to anything, but people believe their words are carried by the wind to their loved ones and it provides a great deal of comfort to so many.The book follows Yui, a woman who lost her daughter and mother in the tsunami who becomes a regular visitor to the phone box and there she meets Takeshi, a man who not long ago lost his wife.This is a story of love, loss and overwhelming grief but also has hope. It was so emotional but lovely.Added NoteThis book was also on audible in the library, so I listened to it as well. The narrator’s voice was beautiful, and I enjoyed listening just as much as reading……if not more. Absolutely wonderful.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝗪𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 is a reflective, moving novel set in Japan following the 2011 tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people that sweeps you away to Whale Mountain where flowers bloom, and a solitary, disconnected phone booth sits day after day waiting for those who are filled with sorrow to come and have their voices carried by the wind to those they have lost forever.⁣⁣The prose is eloquent and clear. The characters are vulnerable, devastated, and brave. And the plot is a compelling blend of life, loss, grief, friendship, heartbreak, parenthood, and survival. ⁣⁣Overall, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝗪𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 is a compassionate, heartrending, hopeful tale by Messina inspired by true-life events that does a lovely job of reminding us how crippling grief can be, how powerfully love can heal, and is, ultimately, a book that needs to be read to appreciate just how beautifully written and memorable it truly is.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

A very emotive read. For me the characters were probably the most powerful element of the book, they had such depth, and a quality that had you routing for them from the start; ever hopeful that they would find their new HEA, and a sense of peace.This book was different to my normal read. I really enjoyed the authors writing style, the additions of music, recipes etc. really sets the book apart from others.Overall a lovely, well written book.

Excellent read and our book club loved it; very thoughtful and emotional, great ending that made you feel satisfied.

A book I found profoundly moving and connected with in so many beautifully written sentences and passages.I am a father who has lost. As Yui, the main character has lost. Sudden, unexpected, devastating. A daughter who passed away after only 17 days. And another daughter who passed away when she was 10 years old.I wish I had a phone in the wind to talk to them. My own phone has been poetry and a novel of grief I am currently writing.Laura Imai Messina's book is a beautiful enlightenment on grief, its complexities and subtleties, its rawness and pain, its deep scarring and the passage of time, the love and kindness of others that can help repair our broken hearts.I needed this book, more than I realised. Some books you read and move on from. The Phone Box at the Edge of The World is one that will stay with me. And the many truths, lessons and wisdom it contains will help my healing further.I will speak into the wind and know Jewel and Milla are listening.

It's sad, but not too sad. Made a nice change to read a story set in a country I'm not familiar with, and there was enough detail to give the required insight and understanding of the setting and culture.I read the kindle version and wish I had known all along that there was a glossary- I only stumbled across it as I finished the book!

I always expected this book to be an emotional experience – the true story of the wind phone had already moved me deeply, the whole idea of individuals visiting to speak to those they have lost on a disconnected telephone set in a remote Japanese garden, all those conversations and expressions of love, the goodbyes that never happened.But although there’s much grief and loss, and the stories of people struggling to come to terms with the absence of their loved ones (lost in the most harrowing of circumstances), its real focus is on hope, love, the possibility of finding happiness – and with a beauty and gentleness to the writing that was intensely moving in itself. At the book’s start, I marked sentences and paragraphs I wanted to be able to return to, that captured a moment or a feeling with such delicacy and perfection – but I soon realised I’d be marking every single page.The central story focuses on Yui, grieving the loss of both her mother and young daughter – her grief is visceral, the memories of moments of happiness with her daughter always near the surface, the depth of her anguish causing a physical reaction whenever she catches sight of the sea that tore them apart. It’s also the story of Takeshi, who lost his wife, and now has sole responsibility for his own young daughter who is no longer able to speak following the loss of her mother. The wind phone brings these two damaged people together, allows them to share their grief and make it more manageable – their growing closeness brings them both peace and comfort, but also introduces the possibility of happiness and new love that will help them heal.We discover the stories of others too, drawn to the place of pilgrimage – and I particularly loved finding that those private conversations with lost loved ones often aren’t really about the big things but more about the minutiae of life, the smaller details that they’re no longer able to share.This is a story of hope and healing, the possibility of moving on from tragedy, the bravery needed to grasp new opportunities and leave the fear behind, to understand that moving on is very different from forgetting – it’s emotionally quite perfect, and it’s extraordinarily beautiful. It’s a book filled with moments – some very quiet ones, small things like unexpected laughter, a shared conversation, but some on a much larger canvas. And there are searing and unforgettable images, simply described but immensely powerful, filled with emotion – I particularly liked the repeated use of framing, viewing the spaces between the lines, and the way it can make life more manageable.With Yui’s growing closeness to Takeshi’s daughter, there’s a strong focus on motherhood too – linked with the loss of her own mother, her fear that she’s replacing her lost daughter, that it might not be possible to love another child enough, and that if she does it will somehow diminish her own daughter’s memory.I have to mention the book’s unconventional structure – the chapters that carry the narrative alternate with others that are shorter, sometimes lists prompted by a thought, often mundane, sometimes unexpectedly poignant and emotional – which I really enjoyed. And I also very much enjoyed my introduction to Japanese conventions and culture – very accessible, and entirely fascinating.This book was quite beautiful – yes, an emotional read, and not always an easy one, but overflowing with hope, tremendously uplifting, and totally unforgettable. I recommend it very highly.

This was so emotional. It's based on the true story of a phone box in the small town of Otsuchi in northern Japan, an area that was devastated by the tsunami, that people travel too to talk to loved ones they have lost. The phone isn't connected to anything but people believe their words are carried by the wind to their loved ones and it provides a great deal of comfort to so many. The book follows Yui, a woman who lost her daughter and mother in the tsunami who becomes a regular visitor to the phone box and there she meets Takeshi, a man who not long ago lost his wife. It's a beautiful story of love, loss and grief.

I loved the idea that we can somehow continue to “connect” with those we have loved and lost so was intrigued by this lovely book based on the true story of a phone box in a beautiful garden in Japan where people visit to do just that. It is worth “googling” the garden and looking at the actual garden and phone box whilst reading - it is stunning. The story is about Yui who lost her mother and 4 year old daughter in tsunami in 2011 and is unable to move on from her loss, until she visits the garden. En route she meets Yakeshi who has lost his wife and whose daughter has stopped talking. He is hoping that by talking to his late wife he will work out how to help their daughter speak again. They start visiting at the same time and the reader is gradually introduced to the custodian of the garden and to other people who visit to speak to their own lost ones, and very slowly You starts to move on. It is very moving and heartwarming as many other reviewers have said. I really recommend this novel to anyone who has lost someone they love; they are sure to find something in it that they identify with.