Book Review Of 'Drawing Closer' by Morita Ao

Death is certain, but what if you knew exactly when? What would you do with the last six months you got?

The book ‘Drawing Closer’ is the first Japanese book that I finished reading. As the first Japanese book for me, I think it left a great impression. The story uses a first-person point of view. In the story, there are three main characters, Akito, and Haruna. The book starts by introducing Akito, a person with only about a year left. He had already given up his life and just wanted to enjoy his time left peacefully. Nothing changed until he met her, Haruna, a girl who lives in the hospital most of the time and only has about half a year of time left. They first met in the hospital and soon became friends. Visiting this new friend in the hospital had then become Akito’s new hobby. They experience lots of depressing, lovely, and joyful days together. I thought that the story would be a wonderful romance story but a plot twist changed everything. Although I expected that something similar might happen, I still felt really shocked when I learned the twist. Check out the book to find out more about the ending of the story!

The author of the book explores a fresh and unique theme, a love story between a person who only has half a year left and a person who only has a year left. Although we readers and the characters know the ending must not be what we wanted, the author still uses this theme to create a touching love story. Additionally, the author has excellent writing skills that make readers feel deeply engaged in the story.  I will rate the story a 4 out of 5. There is a very encouraging phrase in the book, which is about Haruna saying that she decided to try her best to live longer, even only for a day, an hour, a minute, or a second, she would still do her best to fight over the sickness. This is my favorite phrase in the book. A person who knew that she would be dying soon because of her sickness was still trying her best to live, a healthy person like me, how could I give up trying? Everyone must struggle in their life but don’t give up easily, I think this is what I learned from the book. It is a book that I really recommend you to read if you are interested in romance and touching stories. Lastly, I think the story will be perfect if it can add more descriptions of the thoughts of the characters because sometimes I feel confused by the thoughts of the character.