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Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Novel

Synopsis:
Lonely Castle in the Mirror Novel

Seventh grader Kokoro is at the point of no return. Bullied so badly that she's afraid to go to school, she spends her days watching television in her room while her parents try to figure out what went wrong. Then one day something strange happens: the mirror in her bedroom begins to glow. Upon touching it, Kokoro is pulled through into a fantastical castle, where a young girl in a wolf mask, calling herself the Wolf Queen, tells her that she and six other middle schoolers have one year to find the key that will grant the wish of whomever uses it. As Kokoro begins to get to know her fellow castle-visitors, she starts to think about her own situation in comparison to theirs…and what the price of a wish might actually be.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror is translated by Philip Gabriel.

Review:

At the risk of being too personal, I lived this story. I don't mean now; I mean that as a seventh grader I experienced many of the same things that protagonist Kokoro did, and from that perspective I can say that this book gets it absolutely right: from the horrible burning sinking feeling in your gut when you realize that the bully has the adults wrapped up in her lies, to the cold fear that grabs hold of your bones and freezes you in place so that you can't move no matter what, Mizuki Tsujimura gets what it feels like to be bullied to the point where you're in fear of your life. That alone makes it clear why this won several prestigious literary awards after its initial publication in 2017 and why it's getting a new English edition from Erewhon Books: in a world where stories about bullying are often preachy or actively encourage children who are hurting to try to see the bully's side of the story, Lonely Castle in the Mirror is firmly on the side and in the heart and mind of the victim.

That's important as well as intentional—a note at the end of the novel mentions a recent UNICEF study that found that Japanese school children have some of the lowest levels of mental health among comparable nations, so Tsujimura is trying to both call attention to the problem and validate the experiences of those going through it. This is clearly shown through primary heroine Kokoro's interactions with the adults in her life; her teacher at school is consistently on the side of the bully, who has perfect parent manners, trying to explain that the girl who tried to break into her house and made Kokoro fear for her life also has her own things to deal with. It's an understatement to say that this makes Kokoro feel invalidated, and that the teacher never really sees Kokoro's side in all of this is a symptom of the problem. Tsujimura's clear-eyed presentation of this, along with the issues the other children in the castle are dealing with, make it apparent that this is a problem caused by adults unwilling to truly listen to kids.

Blending this with the sort of fantasy that speaks equally to Lewis Carroll and Sylvia Cassedy (specifically Behind the Attic Wall) and two very specific fairy tales, Tsujimura combines the emotional wreckage of a child who's afraid to go to school with the desire for a safe space to create something that speaks to the soul. Gently mixing the personal tragedies of the seven protagonists who are summoned to the eponymous castle, Tsujimura provides a cathartic space for them to explore their feelings without feeling like she's talking down to the reader.

This is at least in part accomplished by the use of two tale types that bear a lot of similarities: Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf and the Seven Kids. Tsujimura's use of the folkloric similarities and the fear inspired by the wolf—the antagonist of both tale types—allows readers to draw their own conclusions while also calling to mind the many variants and retellings of them, with specific and interesting parallels to Alphonse Daudet's 1864 play The Romance of Little Red Riding Hood. Daudet's Red is trapped in a cycle that she can't escape, but she uses it to help others find their own exits, and that's a theme that works well with both this novel and its approach to The Wolf and the Seven Kids. The Wolf may always be waiting, but that doesn't mean that there aren't ways to avoid him.

It's difficult to talk about this book because it truly hit me where I live, and this feels like the most personal review I've ever written. But I think that it has to be, because the power of this novel is in the way it handles some of the worst moments you can live through, and even if you don't have a castle to escape to, you can have this book. Ultimately it is a beautiful and hopeful story, even as it's tinted with shades of tragedy. It's middle school life both as I lived it and as I wish it could have been, and I hope that the novel continues to prompt discussions about bullying, mental health, and how we handle the wolves at our doors.

Grade:
Overall : A

+ Thoughtful and honest about how bullying can affect middle schoolers (and anyone, really); good use of folklore and the thematic staples of middle grade fiction.
Big reveals aren't too difficult to figure out, not all characters get quite enough closure.

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Production Info:
Story: Mizuki Tsujimura

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Lonely Castle in the Mirror (novel)

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