It's a novel, not anything... with a goal, with fun, or humor. Too literati. ( )

This is an interesting surmise, I'm just not sure it worked as the central character didn't seem to have enough depth.
One day the young man who tells this story finds out that he has an incurable brain tumour and has only a limited time to live. At which point he starts writing a bucket list and wishes he has longer. At which point the devil appears. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, like you do. And he is offered a bargin, remove one thing from the world and gain an extra day of life.
And so he vanishes phones, movies and clocks. He gets the chance to have one more experience with each item before it vanishes, so one last phone call, one last movie etc. The surmise is interesting, what would you get rid off for one more day on the earth. But the execution seems rather poor. The central character meets up with an ex girlfriend who adores movies, and when he vanishes then, he barely gives a moments thought to what it would mean to her life. Maybe that's why they are ex... The 4th offering is cats and at this point he declines the offer. Along the way he revisits parts of his life, reviews his relationship with his mother and the broken one with his father. He is somewhere in his 30s, we find, but at times he is very childish and selfish, not considering anyone else apart from his mother and the cat.
Good idea, but the central character and the execution let it down. ( )

There are moments in this book that have made me think much about those elements of my life that I easily take for granted---there are some good lines in here (disclaimer: I read the original Japanese), and the premise is fantastic. But other moments feel rather dramatic and cliche. The commentary following the end of the story proper doesn't help---its extravagant praise reads more like an advertisement than much else. ( )

I liked the concept of what you would be prepared to give up if you could live one more day. Like the narrator, I couldn't give up something so close to me, like a beloved animal. ( )

This was really a sweet story. A reminder of all that’s important in life - and I loved the idea of making a deal with the devil to extend your days. ( )