The Graveyard Apartment

A Japanese horror novel written by Mariko Koike and translated by Deborah Boliver Boehm

3/5 Star Review

It’s September and I am still reveling in the month-long anniversary celebration for The Ladies of Horror Fiction. This lovely team is celebrating their first full year of spotlighting the amazing ladies of horror! If you would like to join in the festivities, there is a read-a-thon taking place for the entire month and it features five different reading challenges – check out this link for more details!

I read The Graveyard Apartment for Challenge #5 – Read a Translated Book OR A Book Set in Another Country. This is my second “official” pick for the read-a-thon and happened to fit the bill on both accounts.

The Graveyard Apartment tells the story of Teppei, Misao, and their young daughter, Tamao. The couple has bought their first apartment – it’s an absolute bargain for the location and close to school and the train. However, there is a downside. The apartment building overlooks an old Buddhist graveyard and crematorium. Strange occurrences begin on the first day in their new home and continue to ramp up all the way to the very end.

One thing this book does very well is creating a certain atmosphere. The entire book has a very claustrophobic feel to it which adds to the spookiness. It feels dark, dreary, and cold – even when it is a beautiful summer day.

There are several issues that I have with the book, and I feel that they may have simply been “lost in translation.” Without dropping any spoilers, the main issue that I have is the reason for the haunting. The book alludes to a few possibilities, but they don’t necessary correlate with the end of the book. There were many statements and descriptions where the translation seemed almost too literal and it made for some awkward dialog and narration. Lastly, my interpretation of the story may have also been incorrect due to cultural differences and societal norms.

I enjoyed the book, but I definitely didn’t “get” it. The Graveyard Apartment has a bit of a slow build, but once it ramped up, I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend it if you are a fan of Japanese horror – a lot of the common ghost story tropes are there, but the average horror reader could give this one a pass. Have you read it? What are your thoughts?