Strange Houses, by Uketsu

[rachelmanija]

This is such a fun, unique book. The opening grabs you immediately: Uketsu shows an architect friend the floor plan of a house that his friends are considering buying. The architect spots a number of odd elements that aren't just bad planning, but suggest a very carefully planned and bizarre MURDER HOUSE!

The floor plan of that house and two more come into play repeatedly as Uketsu and his friend investigate, unraveling a truly weird and sometimes spooky mystery via a series of interviews. This book breaks all sorts of rules - it's entirely told rather than shown, a lot of it is exposition, the author appears as a character, and that's not even mentioning the very large role that floor plans play - and I could not put it down.

Is the solution to the mystery absolutely nuts? Sure. Is the book a whole lot of fun to read? Absolutely. Will I recommend it to my customers? You bet!

Translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion, who has a nice afterword about translating it.

Apparently Uketsu is a Japanese YouTuber who only appears wearing a mask, like Chuck Tingle if his thing was drawings and creepy mysteries rather than horror and getting pounded in the butt. I can't wait to read Uketsu's other book, Strange Pictures.

Comments

[lorata]

If you enjoyed the book version, there an original youtube version (done like a true crime), a new full-length youtube video, and manga adaptation (and a movie but don't watch that). Each version differs slightly -- the floor plan is the same but the story that unfolds has new interpretations / conclusions. The latest youtube video is super new so it doesn't have English subtitles yet I don't think, but once it does I highlyyyy recommend because it has the most bonkers update of the story.

[rachelmanija]

How cool! Thank you so much, I had no idea.

[shipperslist]

This sounds intriguing! Both Strange Houses and Strange Pictures are available at the local library, and I placed a hold immediately!

[rachelmanija]

Let me know what you think when you read them!

[james]

YAY my library has it! I'm on the hold list.

[rachelmanija]

Check back in when you read it!

[ivy]

I read this but I broke the other way... with the first "well obviously this is a MURDER HOUSE that can only be explained by..." reveal, I was somewhere between "WTF!" and "Citation needed!". So... the reader has no chance at all of solving this mystery, because WTF no that's not a thing, hahaha. I really wondered if it was touching on Japanese cultural references that I'm not familiar with, or if it was just pure imaginative wait what, heh. I loved the conceit of the book, and I was really into the idea of a creative architectural mystery. Just, not like that.

[rachelmanija]

Haha, I can see that.

[lorata]

Hilariously I went in a different direction with "obviously this is a [later spoiler] house" ....... wait MURDER?!

[rachelmanija]

It seems like it's less Japanese cultural references and more Japanese literary subgenre conventions - see whimsyful's comment below.

[pameladean]

This sounds great. I have a weird tropism towards floor plans, to the point that I'll struggle through stupidly-written empty-headed articles festooned with weird scammy ads that open when you click the X to close them (they do not close, ever) so that I can look at tiny-house plans. I don't even want to live in a tiny house. It would drive me crazy in about two hours. But the plans are wonderful.

(Yes, I know I can find much better articles about anything involving floor plans. It's just that I can't resist clicking if I know there's a floor plan in there, or even just might be.)

Anyway, the book sounds like a much better use of my time.

P.

[rachelmanija]

You will LOVE this book.

[osprey_archer]

Oh, this sounds super fun! And the library has it... SOLD I will give it a try.

[rachelmanija]

I eagerly await your review!

[whimsyful]

"architecturally weird houses that becomes the setting for a bonkers murder mystery" is an entire subgenre in Japanese detective fiction (I think my personal fav that I've come across is a house based on alchemy in Kindaichi Case Files), but this is the first I've come across where the floor plans are so prominent! And yay my library has a copy, off to borrow!

[rachelmanija]

Oh, that's so cool! I've read basically no Japanese detective fiction, I think, only Japanese thrillers/noir, which is pretty different. Can you tell me more? What's the title of the alchemy book?

[whimsyful]

If you're interested in Japanese detective fiction I have to recommend Ho-Ling Wong and his blog. Not only has he reviewed a ton of works, he's translated a bunch of these books into English, including Ayatsuji Yukito's Yakata series , an entire series of weird murder house books where the weird murder houses were all designed by the same architect! I've read The Decagon House Murders and thought it suffered from a common weakness of the honkaku genre where all the focus is put on the puzzle plot so characterization and prose style were both paper thin, but I might still check out The Labyrinth House Murders simply because the premise sounds so delightful. Other "weird murder house" mysteries I know of are The Eight Mansion Murders by Takemaru Abiko, Murder in the Crooked House by Shoji Shimada, and Death in the House of Rain by Szu-Yen Lin.

For an intro to Japanese fair play mysteries, if you want something with a good balance of plot, characterization, pacing, themes etc I highly recommend Keigo Higashino's Detective Galileo series. If you want to see how absolutely batshit it can get, Shoji Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders...is not a good book on multiple levels but still has the most impressively bonkers solution to a murder mystery I've ever read.

The alchemy house one is actually a manga! The Kindaichi Case Files, The Alchemy Murder Case. I watched the anime adaptation years ago but it looks hard to track down now.

[cyphomandra]

Ooh, thank you for this - I read The Decagon Murders and liked the puzzle but thought most of the characters failed to achieve even one dimension (esp the women) but now I am also tempted by The Labyrinth House Murders and I see there's one coming out with clocks that are also my weakness.

I have just borrowed the first two Detective Galileo books from my library but sadly they do not have the Shimada.

[whimsyful]

I hope you enjoy the Galileo books!

[swan_tower]

Seconding the question of the title for the alchemy-house book!

[whimsyful]

Just answered above!

[swan_tower]

Thank you!

[oracne]

That sounds so cool! Thank you for the rec.

[cyphomandra]

I just read this! I actually started with Strange Pictures due to library hold order but then read this one and have now put an enthusiastic hold on Strange Buildings. I also enjoy floor plans and loved the way the author and his architect friend went straight to MURDER HOUSE without ever stopping to consider other possibilities (and, if you buy that, it does sort of play fair with the reader in terms of giving them a chance to solve the floor plans!) I thought Strange Pictures was stronger and look forward to hearing what you think of it.

ROT13 for Strange Houses and the play it reminded me of: Gur uvqqra zheqre puvyq erzvaqrq zr bs Znegva ZpQbantu'f cynl Gur Cvyybjzna, juvpu vf oynpx pbzrql jvgu ybgf bs puvyq zheqre - bar cybgyvar unf ybivat cneragf jub rapbhentr gurve fba gb or n jevgre naq qrpvqr gung sbe gehr terngarff gurl jvyy gbeghevat uvf uvqqra gjva oebgure va gur frnyrq ebbz arkg qbbe fb gung gur fpernzf naq pevrf jvyy cebivqr gur qrcgu bs fhssrevat terng jevgvat arrqf (!)

[rachelmanija]

LOLOL OMFG.

I also just read and enjoyed Strange Pictures!