Pulau Sae

I'll be honest, the majority of the book is more like a 3.5⭐ read. It's by no means bad. It's just... not quite what the blurb says it is. The blurb makes it sound like it's a story focused on four teenagers living in a remote island, spending their last summer in high school before they have to decide whether they would stay in the island or leave. That makes it sound like it'd be centered around the four main characters, right? But it's not.

The main character of this story is actually the island itself, and the blurb wasn't kidding when it says Akari, Kinuka, Genki, and Arata would observe the decisions of those who come and leave the island. That's seriously all they do until the very end: observing others. The book covers a lot of issues and deals with a lot of characters like a true slice of life story, ranging from the life of single mothers to village politics, which makes the overall tone heavier and less teenage-like. Even their school life receives very little portion compared to their days in the island. Again, it's not bad. It's just not what you think it may be.

That being said, the ending is beautiful and it's the reason why I'm rating this 4⭐. When you're a teenager and have to stay in the island knowing all of your friends are leaving, you'll definitely have a lot of worries about being apart from the people you grew up with. This issue gets resolved in a really nice way in the end, wrapping up the story on a heartwarming note. That alone deserves some extra points.