The Tatami Galaxy

Morimi’s (Fox Tales) recursive novel takes listeners through a dizzying Groundhog Day–like plot, where a messy god of love allows an unnamed third-year student at Kyoto University to travel through four parallel realities, exploring the different paths that he might have taken as a first-year college student. The student hopes to have his crush return his affection, but beyond that, he also welcomes the chance to realize his potential in life. A novel that offers variations on the same plot again and again might have been incredibly boring. This audio is always stimulating, however, as narrator Andrew Grace skillfully employs different shades of emotion to create new worlds with each iteration. While Grace voices many characters pleasantly and believably, this is one of those audiobooks where annoying people are narrated annoyingly—notably Ozu, the student’s lousy friend, who is a central character, which means that listeners are frequently subjected to his unpleasant voice; this may be a point of difficulty for some.