![My Annihilation [Book]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/718LmMSnH2L.jpg)
Summary (No Spoilers):
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura is a story with an unreliable narrator, focusing on the human mind in areas like psychology and true crime.
In-Depth Review (Spoilers Ahead!):
"Turn this page and you may give up your entire life."
That's the premise this book begins with, and in a way there's some truth behind it. It starts with an unnamed narrator reading through the story of a mentally disturbed boy named Kozuka, who can't be sure if he pushed his sister off a cliff or if he watched her trip and fall.
The story continues on with the idea the narrator stole Kozuka's identity, showing a hard life for Kozuka now living alone with his mother, who suffered from a pattern of abusive relationships with men. This results in weird fantasies on Kozuka's part. And one day he snaps, pushing his drunken mother and smashing plates, hurting her by mistake. At this point, it's difficult to trust this narrator.
There are a few chapters discussing the Otaku Killer, who was known for his grotesque crimes and who might have had DID. But it went on and on, rehashing the same ideas.
The narrator is told to run as the story ends, but an older man finds him and traps him in a car, calling him Kozuka. He shows the narrator a letter to go along with it as DNA tests will prove otherwise.
The narrator is told to run as the story ends, but an older man finds him and traps him in a car, calling him Kozuka. He shows the narrator a letter to go along with it as DNA tests will prove otherwise.
The narrator meets a strange doctor, the one who wrote the letter. A man the doctor calls Kozuka is kept in another room and can do nothing but pick up paper on command.
More story is unfolded here as Kozuka's apparently a doctor who hypnotized his client Yukari. He lacked the proper training and was too in love with her to sensibly remain her doctor, but he stuck with her even when learning a Dr. Yoshimi forced disgusting memories into Yukari's mind with shock therapy. Kozuka twists this into trying to fill Yukari's mind with nice memories via shock therapy, but even when Yukari becomes a blank slate, there are issues.
Yukari falls in love with another man, a cafe owner named Wakui. She works at his cafe and has a great life... until a reminder of her past causes her to commit suicide.
But that's where this story twists and it begins to make sense why the narration has been dubious in its reliability. A lot of its pieces don't make sense as necessary information was missing.
Wakui explains the matter of false memories, as Kozuka requested for Dr. Yoshimi to brainwash him to get revenge on two men named Kida and Mamiya for giving Yukari back her memories. This revenge plot is very complicated, but it explains the inconsistencies, as the two other Kozukas (the one reading the stories and the one picking up paper) are the brainwashed Mamiya and Kida.
Wakui explains the matter of false memories, as Kozuka requested for Dr. Yoshimi to brainwash him to get revenge on two men named Kida and Mamiya for giving Yukari back her memories. This revenge plot is very complicated, but it explains the inconsistencies, as the two other Kozukas (the one reading the stories and the one picking up paper) are the brainwashed Mamiya and Kida.
Kozuka starts to fall even further into madness, as he realizes his failings with Yukari hit him so hard because of failings with his mother. He continues to brainwash Mamiya, but it's becoming clear none of these were real successes. Eventually Mamiya kills himself after his brain is filled with suggestions to do so.
The narrative starts to fall apart in places here, as there's simply too much confusion to fully understand all its parts, but the psychological aspects are interesting at least.
It becomes clear Dr. Yoshimi did the same injection of false memories into Kozuka's mind when he was a troubled child, and I have no idea why this could ever be shocking from such a creepy doctor. These men should have never received medical licenses. Kozuka gets his revenge by putting Dr. Yoshimi in a room with the mentally fried Kida, who rushes him and chokes him to death.
The narrative starts to fall apart in places here, as there's simply too much confusion to fully understand all its parts, but the psychological aspects are interesting at least.
It becomes clear Dr. Yoshimi did the same injection of false memories into Kozuka's mind when he was a troubled child, and I have no idea why this could ever be shocking from such a creepy doctor. These men should have never received medical licenses. Kozuka gets his revenge by putting Dr. Yoshimi in a room with the mentally fried Kida, who rushes him and chokes him to death.
This would all be much more satisfying if this was taken seriously back when Dr. Yoshimi was doing this to Yukari, but the narrative pull has been really sloppy.
Kozuka sends Wakui away after everything comes to an end, and he sets himself on the same path he set Yukari on, trying to inject false memories of a happy life into his mind.
Based on the trajectory of the story, his success is unlikely. This is a story of many broken and twisted people, and I doubt any of their stories will come to a happy end.
This was a strangely written book with a neat concept but rough execution.
This was a strangely written book with a neat concept but rough execution.
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