Seventeen by Hideo Yokohama- Book Review

Seventeen by Hideo Yokohama is a story of a journalist, Yuuki, who is part of the North Kanto Times, newspaper. There is an awful plane crash and a lot of people lost their lives. This plane crash is true, it really did happen in Japan in August 1985.

Yuuki, is not a very likeable character, who has beaten his wife and young son Jun, due to his anger and inability to speak to Jun or feel any love from him. 

Yuuki has a friend, Anzai and they are planning on climbing a tough mountain, but Yuuki is scared and is glad when the plane crash put a stop to the trip, as he has to work. 

There is a lot of details about mountain climbing and how a newspaper is run, with the politics and ego’s alongside the Japanese culture. A lot of this is really engrossing, but I did find myself a bit lost by some of it and admit to skipping a few pages. 

“You have to Climb up to step down” is the theme to this, what did Anzai mean and will Yuuki finally understand and come to terms with his fear and personal demons.

Overall this is well written but a little overlong and wordy in places