Parasite in Love by Sugaru Miaki

Parasite in Love Reviews

• 
  Ștefi

  3 stele ca nu mi place ca unul de 27 s a indragostit de una de 17 dar poveste e gen interesanta deocamdata
• 
  Azmain

  This book is exceptional. I am rating five stars because of the emotions it gave me. Only thing I would have liked here would be more of an open ended ending.
• 
  Larosenoire299

  "If we keep staying together like this, I think I'll kill you someday, Mr. Kousaka."
  
  A romantic but sad love story of a clean freak and a girl who loves insects and to play truant....
  
  I stumbled upon this book when I knew that my favourite actress - Komatsu Nana would be the female lead of the film adaptation <3 Parasite in love contains only 9 chapters, quite short compared to other romantic novels I've read before. The sypnosis is not new: 2 people who suffers from OCD meet and help in other reintergrate into society. By being with each other, they gradually come out of their ivory tower. By sharing and leaning on each other, Kousaka and Sanagi feel himself getting better with each passing day.
  
  "As usual, he couldn't ride the train by himself, but if he went with Sanagi, he could even do a simple restaurant visit. Though it was slow going, he washed his hands less frequently, spent less time cleaning, and the smell of disinfectant in the room weakened."
  
  "I read in a book a long time ago that animals don't have a sense of past and future; to them, there's only the present. So as much pain as they experience, even if it accumulates as an experience, the pain itself doesn't accumulate. So their first pain and their thousandth pain can only be recognized as "my current pain." Thanks to that, they can't have hope, but can't fall into despair, and just seem to stay in that peaceful state. A certain philosopher once called it "total investment in the present"... but I look up to that way of living animals have."
  
  So, what sets Parasite in love apart from other mental illness book? It lies in the twist of this book, which explains the title:
  "The worm in your head and the worm in Hijiri Sanagi's head are calling to each other. You might think Hijiri Sanagi's your fateful partner, but that feeling's been created by the worm. What you have is nothing more than a puppet love."
  
  Sanagi refused to take treatment. She locked both of them in the icy container in the hope of convincing him to refuse to get rid of worm. Her decisiveness and stubborness tore my heart out:
  "So? So what if it's an illusion?" Sanagi's voice went shrill. "What's wrong with a sham of a love? If I can be happy, I don't care about being a puppet. The worm did things for me that I couldn't do. It taught me how to like people. Why should I kill such a benefactor? I know about the puppet strings, and I'm leaving myself to them. If that isn't my own will, then what is?".
  
  When it comes to Kousaka, he wondered if their love was "lovesickness", and they would lose interest in each after once they were rid of that parasite. Kousaka made up his mind to undergo treatment and say goodbye to Sanagi.
  
  Each step she took toward him, he backed away, and if she backed away, he stepped toward. It was like a dance.
  
  It's not until Kousaka didn't allow any girl to enter his house - where Sanagi slept in before, did he realize that love is irresistible, even without the existence of worms. As in the past days, although Kousaka always tried to "keep things as they are", he couln't deny that he has feelings for her. Throughout the story, his love towards Sanagi is pure and sincere. I felt regret that their happy days wouldn't last long. However things fell, Sanagi's fate was the same. At least they used to have peaceful and fulfilling days and one of them still lived and went on with his life.
• 
  Zu.

  Voy a pensar que siguieron viviendo una vida juntos, con sus bajones, pero disfrutando la compañía del otro por muchos años.
  
  Pensar lo contrario, podrÍA MATARTE !!
  
  --------------
  
  Ahora sí hablando muy seriamente, quiero decir que esta debe ser la mejor representación de mental illnes que yo he leído.
  
  Aunque bien es cierto que la misofobia o miedo a la suciedad de Kousuka y la escopofobia o miedo a que te miren fijamente de Sanagi son los protagonistas y se ahonda mas en cómo estos trastornos afectan sus vidas cotidianas, aislandolos del resto del mundo y básicamente transitando por la vida (más que viviendola) la autora Sugaru Miaki retrata perfectamente la depresión, la ansiedad y la ideación suicida.
  
  Los capítulos finales de este libro son extremadamente agridulces. Me quedo con el corazón destrozado, sí, pero no puedo evitar empatizar profundamente con el POV de Sanagi.
  
  Quien ha vivido con ese dolor, entiende que amar con todo tu corazón a alguien no te cura, y menos aún te quita las ganas de querer sacarte de este mundo cada día de tu vida...
  
  "It was always this way. I was so scared to live, I couldn’t bear it. If I didn’t take something, I became afraid I would never get it my entire life. If I did take something, I became afraid I would lose it someday.
  
  The scariest thing was that I would never love anyone, and no one would ever love me. If I was going to live a life like that, I thought it would be better to just die as soon as possible. But now that I have learned about love, now I’m more scared than anything to lose it. If I’ll have to continue on with this fear, I think it’s best to die as soon as possible.
  
  A trend toward death. A self-destructive program. In the end, however things fell, my destination was the same. Happiness and unhappiness are two sides of the same coin, and especially to a coward like me, they have almost the same meaning. Everything serves as an argument to entrust myself to death. That’s the person I am.
  
  So I at least want to end it all while the coin is facing up. There’s nothing to win from dying at the proper time. I’m already exhausted from getting sad and getting happy.
  
  So I’m sure I’ll put a period on my life soon. Then the curtain will fall on the history of my life. It’ll never be written to again. There could be no better time to quit while I’m ahead."
  
  Yeah, I get her....
• 
  Annemarie

  I might be extra harsh on this because I love Miaki's books so much, but this was a little disappointing. 3,5 stars, I guess.
  
  This wasn't a bad book, but it also wasn't as good as any of the other books of Miaki I have read. It started of different, there was no childhood scene at all, instead it went straight into the story. The first half of the book read like a romance novel, and was very predictable too. I like that Miaki is branching out into different types of mental illnesses, but I feel like it wasn't as... emotional? I'm not sure how to explain it. It's clear that he researched mysophobia a lot, though, so that's not the problem.
  
  Once our two main characters meet, the book follows the "love treats all mental illnesses" trope. I was waiting for the book to explain this in a believable way (as Miaki is known to do) and it did, to a point. (I'll get back to that).
  
  The first half also includes a lot of information about parasites, which could sometimes make it feel a bit dry. I'm not particulary interested in them, so reading chapters about some kind of parasite wasn't exactly exciting. I feel like there was too much of it, and if there was just a bit less, it would have made for a more compelling read.
  
  Most of the twists in this book were extremely predictable. And I kinda feel like maybe Miaki felt the same way, because he throws in some new twists near the end, that are very unpredictable, but also kinda clash with the story. Things that made sense, stopped making sense after the extra twist.
  if the patients committed suicide once they were healed, why would Sanagi's parents commit suicide together? Did they both get rid of their parasite without doing anything, and at the same time? If the parasite 'helps' the people it inhibits from negative thoughts, why does it give them more problems. The book claims it's because the stress from daily life is too much for the parasite to handle, but surely a mental illness gives even more stress, and not less? If Kousaka and Sanagi didn't fall in love because of the parasite, why did they fall in love so quickly despite their problems, and why did their symptoms get less when together, if that's not because of the parasites? Why did the parasite transfer through kissing at first, but not in the final chapter, when Sanagi doesn't have hers anymore and they kiss. Shouldn't Kousaka's parasite transfer to her, thus saving her? Why does Sanagi commit suicide? She supposedly the happiest she's ever been, being with Kousaka, without her fear of people, yet she still feels like she has to. If it's because she's depressed why doesn't anyone try to get her help? It feels like plottwists for the sake of plottwists, which is a pity.
  
  I really like Miaki's writing style and this novel was no different. The characters were okay, they had a few very unlikeable actions, but overal were likeable enough. I don't feel like they developped through this story. While most of Miaki's books have incredible character developement, it was kind of lacking in this one.
  
  This wasn't a bad book at all, it just wasn't as good as I've come to expect from Miaki, and because of that, it was kinda disappointing.
• 
  Niklas

  Ich hab etwas gemischte Gefühle bei diesem Buch. Einerseits war es sehr interessant von der Thematik und dem stilistischen Aufbau, andererseits an manchen Stellen etwas weird… aber ich fang erstmal mit dem Guten an.
  Mir hat gefallen, dass sich der Autor für die Story Zeit gelassen hat. Es fühlte sich nichts Erzwungen an, wie ich es schon bei vielen Romanen empfunden habe. Zudem hat der Autor die langen Exkurse über Parasitismus -die Charakteristisch für diesen Roman sind- spannend, lehrreich und interessant gestaltet indem er immer wieder Bezüge zur Story und der menschlichen Liebe gezogen hat. Das hat für mich den Roman auch so besonders gemacht. Die Tatsache, dass sich jedoch ein 26-jähriger Mann und ein 17-jähriges Mädchen ineinander verlieben finde ich jetzt nicht ganz so prickeln. Klar, dies geschah mehr unfreiwillig als gewollt (Den Grund kann ich nicht erwähnen, weil er das ganze Buch Spoilern würde), trotzdem denke ich, es hätte andere Wege gegeben um das Outline anders zu gestalten. Trotzdem wurde die Beziehung erwachsen un realistisch mit allen Risiken und Nebenwirkungen erzählt.
  Ich habe in vielen Reviews gelesen, dass das Ende nicht so freudig aufgenommen wurde. Mir hat es jedoch sehr gefallen und ich bin auch der Meinung, dass es Notwendig war.
  Der Roman ist auf jeden Fall lesenswert für jenen, der sich für Biologie interessiert und über meinen Cringefaktor hinwegsehen kann. Eventuell bin auch zu Prüde. Deswegen meiner eher neutrale Wertung von 3 Sternen.
• 
  Lennybubu

  First of all, this is the kind of novel that sticks with you for a bit, and allthough it wasn't perfect, it might be one of my favorite reads yet. The dynamic between Sanagi and Kosaka was very pleasant, and the potrayal of mental illness striked me a lot, as i had been not expecting such a realistic take on partnership where both parties have their own fair share of baggage when i got into this novel. The parasitic lore, combined with the underlying question: "Are these feelings genuine or created by our circumstances?", created a beautiful melancholic atmosphere which resonated with me a lot. Regarding the ending, i am quite torn between loving and hating it. But maybe that was the intent all along, by making it such an open cocnlusion and ending it more or less with a metaphor, you can't stop dwelling in your own imagination of what might happen.
• 
  kopiokosong

  Very interesting concept. I loved the parasitology background info and how thought out the fictional 'worm' was. But how he got to the ending was a bit strange. I wasn't as convinced by Sanagi's 'proof' and I think it would've ended stronger if Miaki emphasised Sanagi wanting to die w/o any uncertainties of her happiness - this would explain why Kousaka's mom killed herself too, which would've formed a better parallel.
  
  w.r.t style, the narrative POV shifts were kinda strange. You're in third-person one minute and all of a sudden you're shot into the first-person. I think Miaki should've just stuck to first for consistency.
  
  Another great Miaki work though. His concepts are very captivating.
• 
  Pat von Mythenmetz

  Ein außergewöhnliches Buch, welches mich persönlich stärker berührt hat, als ich es mir gedacht hätte. Sugaru Miaki schafft es sowohl Zwangsstörungen, Parasiten als auch soziale Ängste so angenehm lesbar und plausibel darzustellen, dass man nicht umher kommt, mit den Protagonisten mitzufühlen.
  
  Die ganze Geschichte hat einen extrem melancholischen Grundton und zeigt auf, wie schwer es für Individuen in unserer schnelllebigen Gesellschaft sein kann. Es zeigt auch, welche Kraft Hoffnung haben kann und wie stark Depression in den Grundzügen der Persönlichkeit verankert ist.
  
  Wenn ihr also eine Lektüre mit angenehmen Lesefluss haben wollt, welche euch sicherlich das Herz zerreißen wird, greift zu.
• 
  Verena

  Ein überraschend tolles Buch!
  Die Geschichte ist zwar mit sehr viel medizinischem Wissen zum Thema Parasiten gefüllt, sodass ich wirklich oft etwas gegoogelt habe.
  Aber ich habe auch oft aus Neugier Sachen im Internet gesucht. Bei manchen Wörtwrn hätte ich es lieber sein lassen sollen. 😂
  Besonders toll fand ich einfach die Kombination aus Parasit und Liebesgeschichte.
  So sehr mich das Ende jetzt auch zerrissen hat, eine klare Leseempfehlung! ❤
• 
  ay

  finished reading, finally have the time to read this after i found out about the movie long time ago and got amazed by Komatsu Nana’s acting.
  
  parasite in love is the type of manga that isn’t actually straightly-perfect but i enjoyed most of the time while reading them. quite short compares to the light novel but beautiful art style for sure. also i always love manga that are bringing up mental health/psychological theme on its aspect.
  
  
• 
  Katsumi

  An extraordinary book that touched me more than I could have imagined.
  
  At the end, the 'loveworms' give this story the very big plot that they are not evil, but are really dear companions of their hosts. Sanagi was able to find out that they really love each other with and without the parasite
  I would like to highlight the kisses from Sanagi, not only were these kisses love kisses but also a way of connecting to Kengo via parasite, that's why 'parasite in love' is such a well chosen title.
• 
  Becky Chen

  先看漫畫再讀小說，漫畫挺忠實還原了這個故事，但兩人間的愛情描寫普普不太有說服力，不過想想對異男來說喜歡高中女生好像也不用太多理由（咦）。最後的轉折有點倉卒，整體是個輕鬆好讀不大深刻的作品。
• 
  Heva

  Alors oui totalement. la différence ne ma pas déranger mais LA MEUF CEST LZ PLUS GROSSE CONNASSE QUE JAI JAMAIS VUE MAIS GRONIASE VA TU AVAIT TOUT POURQUOI TU AS TOUT CHIER COMME CA PTN
• 
  Ambrine_lzrg

  Incroyable, j'ai adoré et la fin m'a énormément touchée. Un livre qui m'a fait lâché plus de larmes que ma rupture✌️
• 
  Kappi701

  4,5⭐
• 
  mazzy

  wow
• 
  ☆彡kiraa (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)♡

  The end destroyed me, I cried out everything I had. Days later I still had to think about it.
• 
  Hasan

  3.5/5
• 
  Kinofhera

  三秋鎚的幾部小說中，這部較令人失望。
  
  除了結局有點倉促外，比起前幾部小說，人物的設定與描述也頗為單薄，感覺似在抽離地看一部醫學記錄，少了以往濃烈的「情」和「人性」。
  
  《不哭不哭，痛痛飛走吧》仍是我最喜愛的三秋鎚小說。
• 
  Hazso ✺〴

  I was quite captivated by the premise of the story and carried on. There were moments I truly enjoy and find it so heart warming.
• 
  thedollreads

  impossible à lâcher
• 
  Annika

  3⭐️