Keigo Higashino's "Tokio" after reading it
Tokio (時生), since I just finished it two days ago, and I haven't had any desire to read a book lately, I thought it would be nice to write about what I've read.
Orphaned at a young age, he spends all his time as an adult loafing around, not doing his job, fantasising about getting rich overnight, and attributing everything in his life that is not as good as he would like to be to fate.
23-year-old Takumi Miyamoto is really a complete jerk. There is a cold grave in his heart that he never wants to touch, but always exists - because of the abandonment of his real mother and the divorce of his adoptive parents, he has given up and resented the world, and is full of hatred for the world.
When he meets Tokio, Takumi Miyamoto is at a playground, fighting with punks, and since then Tokio has been following him around as a relative, while Takumi had a girlfriend who left him because of his idleness and lack of work. He also refuses to understand the mystery of his parents' abandonment, but only resents it, and the thought that "the world is not fair to me" may stay with him for the rest of his life, as he was abandoned by his parents at a young age. Mystery of his life
Before Takumi's father died, he wished for his mother's survival: "Just the thought of you living, even if it's only for a moment now, I can already feel the future." Takumi finally realises that the mess he is in is not caused by his parents who "abandoned" him, but by his own "abandonment" of himself, and that he has never taken his own life seriously, but has blamed his parents, other people, and society for his misfortunes. Self-abandonment and self-degradation are the root causes of the destruction of one's life.
Tunnel Accident
Tokio suddenly gets on a motorbike at the side of the road and drives into the tunnel alone, when the station's TV broadcasts the news that a rear-end collision has occurred in the Nihonzaka Tunnel, causing a fire, and that the vehicle left in the tunnel is still burning, with no hope of extinguishing the fire. However, Takumi remembers what Tokio said yesterday, and he seems to have foreseen that an accident would happen. Did he grab the motorbike and speed off to stop the crash?
Tokio's name was not in the report of the dead. On the tenth day after the tunnel accident, Takumi saw a report that he had been staring at a corner of the society section of the newspaper, where Tokio's photo was printed. It was a front view photo, and underneath it was written, "Body of drowning victim Reiji Kawanabe found", with the headline "Body of a man who had disappeared for two months found". The headline of the report was "Body of Kawabe Reiji found after two months of disappearance".
After reading This is the grand finale of the story, and I cried like a dog both times I read it. Up to this point, it explains why Takumi Miyamoto insisted that Reiko, who had a genetic disease and was unexpectedly pregnant, give birth to a child, and it also answers the question that had been on Reiko's mind all along: "I'd like to ask that child what it was like to come into the world, was it happy? Does he hate us?"
As adults, we have the right to decide whether we want to have a child or not, but as a child he can only choose to come to this world, as a parent can not guarantee their own children in this world, before the ability to survive on their own to have the dignity of life, to enjoy the best education, can not take on the "we gave birth to him, never let him have regrets to come to the world of thought! Can you assume the responsibility and commitment of "We will never let him regret coming to this world if we give birth to him"? Can you let your children answer you with confidence: "I am very fortunate to have parents like you"? This kind of reflection is the real meaning that "Tokio" should bring to us!