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    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa
    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa
    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa
    Ebook345 pages5 hours

    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa

    By Benjamin Constable

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    A new and enticing voice in fiction draws readers through the streets of Paris and New York on an intricate adventure. It’s twisting, contemplative, playful and darkly entertaining.

    What writer Benjamin Constable needs is a real-life adventure wilder than his rampant imagination. And who better to shake up his comfortable Englishman-in-Paris routine than the enigmatic Tomomi “Butterfly” Ishikawa, who has just sent a cryptic suicide note?

    She’s planted a slew of clues—in the pages of her journal, on the hard drive of her computer, tucked away in public places, under flowerpots, and behind statues. Heartbroken, confused, and accompanied by an imaginary cat, Ben embarks upon a scavenger hunt leading to charming and unexpected spaces, from the hidden alleys of Paris to the cobblestone streets of New York City.

    But Butterfly’s posthumous messages are surprisingly well informed for the words of a dead person, and they’re full of confessions of a past darkened by insanity, betrayal, and murder. The treasures Ben is unearthing are installments of a gruesome memoir. Now he must draw a clear line between the real and surreal if he is to save himself, Butterfly, and what remains of their crazy and amazing friendship.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGallery Books
    Release dateJun 4, 2013
    ISBN9781451667288
    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa
    Author

    Benjamin Constable

    Benjamin Constable was born in Bristol and grew up mostly in Derby. He lives in Paris where he writes fiction and teaches English. Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa is his first novel.

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    Reviews for Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa

    4/5

    13 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5

      Blogged at River City Reading:
      Too often, it seems, we attempt to pigeonhole books into genres rather than giving writers the freedom to create something different. While I certainly see the purpose of categorizing for the sake of recommending or finding books, I hate the thought of novels being overlooked or edited simply because they straddle genre lines.

      Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa succeeds, in part, because it is not easily categorized. While it has the bones of a mystery or thriller, the novel has much more imagination and whimsy than either genre alone. When was the last time the protagonist in your spy series stopped following a trail to talk to an imaginary cat?

      At the same time, however, the characters are incredibly self-aware. Constable's voice is always a step ahead of any criticism the reader may have - he even takes a moment to explain why his cat is not restricted by the laws of science. His fantastic ability to play with words and language is an added bonus, as it gives the novel a quirky tone and infuses the book with phrases that act as an extra puzzle.

      I hesitate to share too much about the hunt Butterfly left behind and the trail of stories Ben ultimately discovers in hopes of avoiding spoilers, but I was pleasantly surprised by how well suspense and humor were blended to the tail end. Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa is an unexpected, playful jaunt woven by an author with a talent for navigating language that you won't want to miss.
    • 5/5
      I finished the Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa a few days ago, but the words are still haunting me. This book is comprised of incredibly beautiful prose intertwined with a deliciously twisted imagination; I couldn't put it down. It's a well crafted, multi-layered story with complex characters that by the end are emotionally stripped down to reveal how irrevocably broken the circumstances of life have left them. Sometimes there are books that are so unique, so utterly breathtaking that the reader becomes part of the story and for a short period of time your thoughts and views are reconstructed from the inky lines of a page. That's what this was for me; it's a book without rhyme or reason, but one that was lovingly destined for my personal library.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa by Benjamin Constable is an absolutely unique novel that should be considered one of the must read books of the summer. Ben Constable (yes, the main character is named after the author) is good friends with Tomomi “Butterfly” Ishikawa. Butterfly has left Ben a suicide note, sent him emails, and left him her computer. On Butterfly’s computer, and in the emails, are enigmatic clues which eventually send Ben on a mission to find the final answers to all the questions Butterfly has managed to raise.

      Ben, sometimes accompanied by his invisible/imaginary Cat, begins searching for the clues and notebooks/writing that Butterfly has left for him in Paris and New York City. Ben follows the clues and uncovers stories Butterfly has written, which seem to indicate that she is a serial killer. While he questions the validity of her stories, he also begins to doubt everything he thought he knew about Butterfly – including her suicide.

      Butterfly indicates that she wants Ben to write about her life, but has she just set him up with her dark tales? How well do we know our friends? Can we trust them? And is everything exactly how we think it is in the story, or are we misjudging the clues.

      While all of this sounds dark, it is a very balanced novel with playful and humorous moments too.

      Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa is an exquisite novel. Constable’s writing is luscious and stunning. His descriptive abilities and marvelous character development are incredible. I just can’t adequately express how completely I was entranced by the plot and how truly thoughtful and captivating I found Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa.

      Very Highly Recommended

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Gallery Books via Netgalley for review purposes.
    • 4/5
      Ben Constable is a Brit living in paris. His best friend is an American ex-pat, Tomomi Ishikawa AKA Butterfly. On one of their evenings out, Ben tells Tomomi he would like to write a book about them. Shortly after, Ben receives a suicide note from Tomomi which sends him on a treasure hunt. With his imaginary cat called Cat, Ben goes on an adventure that takes him first to Paris' underground and then to New York. In the process, he learns about Tomomi's life and murders.Both as author and protagonist, Ben Constable makes a very unreliable narrator. We as reader are never sure if he is telling us the truth or even part of the truth or if he is just taking us on our own adventure or if, perhaps he's just shining us on. For that matter, he even hints that he might not be the narrator at all. But he is so likeable with just the right touch of innocence that, in the end, we believe his story because we want to believe it.As other reviewers have stated, this is a hard book to categorize. it ha adventure, romance, murder, fantasy, literary. It could best perhaps be called a thriller except there are hints throughout the book that it may all be imagination or lies or maybe neither or both. I would say that, if 'strange' were a category, this would fit except not really. It is too well-written and compelling to be so simply labelled.In the end, though, it really doesn't matter what category to fit it in. It is an engrossing read laced with wit, humour and just a touch of horror. It will keep you guessing right up to the end and even then, well, who knows.
    • 4/5
      A very unusual story that is anything but what it appears. The story starts with the apparent suicide of Tomomi Ishikawa, who leaves a note for her best friend Ben Constable. In an effort to understand why, Ben and his imaginary cat embark on an adventure of unravelling the clues of his dead friend throughout Paris and New York. Ben discovers that his friend was not the person he thought she was, but rather a troubled and disturbed woman taking revenge on the people in her life. There are lots of twists and turns in this story, so you have to keep your wits about you when reading it as it could be easy to become confused. However, it is a compelling read just the same.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I received an advanced uncorrected digital galley from netgalley.com of the Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa by Benjamin Constable in exchange for my honest review.I wanted to like Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa. I tried to like it. I kept hoping that I would reach some level of understanding, but despite my best efforts, I just didn't get it. Although engagingly puzzling and well-written, this just wasn't a book for me. I am sure that this book is going to attract a loyal following and be quite successful, but for me, it was endless confusion.
    • 3/5
      I’m not entirely sure how to review this novel. It’s told from the point of view of Benjamin Constable- yes, the author’s name but this is supposed to be work of fiction. Benjamin’s best friend, Tomomi ‘Butterfly’ Ishikawa, disappears and leaves him a note: she has committed suicide. But her note sends him on a game of treasure hunt all around Paris and then on to New York City, leaving parts of her journal in hidden places. It’s like a mad cross between Kafka on the Shore and Angels and Demons. I couldn’t even begin to like Butterfly, with her manipulation of Benjamin and another friend, Beatrice. She treats them horribly, especially Benjamin, torturing him physically and emotionally. If this is how she treats her friends, I’d hate to see what she’d do to an enemy. The descriptions of Benjamin’s journey through Paris and New City are pleasant enough, but that is not enough to sustain a book. And what does the author mean by naming his protagonist for himself? Is he trying to say that this really happened to him? Is it just one more illusion in this book where the reader- and Benjamin for most of the story- has no idea what is real and what isn’t? Or was the author just tired of the question every writer gets: “Is this character you??”I think I’m not cool enough to appreciate this avant garde book.
    • 3/5
      This was an interesting and imaginative story. I liked it, but it kind of fell flat for me too. The beginning of the story really roped me in, and I couldn't wait to figure out where it was going. I enjoyed reading about Paris and that part of the book was new and fresh. By the time it got to NYC it was starting to get a bit stale to me. The introduction of Beatrice revived my interest a bit, but eventually that also got confusing. I found the story to be lacking in something. I think it may have been the confusion about the real relationship or lack thereof between the characters. Not only was I unable to understand the relationship between Ben and Tomomi, but it seemed even Ben himself was unable to explain it to Beatrice. The ending was interesting, but didn't seem quite right either. Overall, Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa reminded me of 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, but it lacked the sparkle and intrigue of Murakami's writing. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy avant-garde fiction. It will probably appeal much more to them than it did to me.Thanks to Galley books and NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

    Book preview

    Three Lives of Tomomi Ishikawa - Benjamin Constable

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