The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (light novel) (The Haruhi Suzumiya Series, 3) Hardcover – July 1, 2010

<i>The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya</i> is the third volume in the series, and takes a slightly different approach to relating the further adventures of Kyon's life dealing with Haruhi's annoying reality-warping abilities. Instead of one, unified story, we have four short stories.These stories are a mix of short works for magazines and just something the author wrote that was too long for being published in a magazine, but too short for a full book. Thus, it was put here.The stories take place around the same time period, where our characters in the SOS Brigade are preparing to finish their current school term, and go on vacation. It's a time for studying, and hoping you do well on your exams. Then, you get to have fun with friends. Or at least, this is how it OUGHT to be, but it can't be for Kyon and the others in the SOS, because Haruhi won't allow it.Instead, Kyon, Nagato, and Asahina have to spend their time keeping Haruhi happy and occupied, lest she subconsciously use her reality-warping powers to wreak havoc in the world. Of course, they succeed, and of course, Kyon hates it. Or well, he <i>says</i> he hates it all. I have my doubts.You see, Kyon is supposed to be not very book smart, and he claims to hate Haruhi. Yet, his narrative betrays a depth of knowledge in a vast range of subjects that is quite impressive. Also, for someone who claims to hate Haruhi so much, he certainly talks about her beauty and her smile a lot, and he seems strangely jealous when others get attention from Haruhi. Kind of tsundere-ish, if you ask me. Of course, he would deny it all, especially the last point, but that is part of the fun of the work.Kyon fits perfectly the idea of an “unreliable narrator”. We can't tell what thoughts are really his, and what are not, if he is serious, if he isn't, and so forth. Does he hate Haruhi, or is he in love with her and in denial? Is he really intellectually average, or is he a genius who is just lazy? These types of questions come up a lot to a reader in this book.The only thing I didn't like was that Kyon's narration, though certainly funny and entertaining, could verge on the whiny and slightly annoying at times. It's understandable having to deal with an amoral, selfish brat with god-like powers, who you have to keep entertained to keep the world safe, that one would be annoyed. Still, it is a bit too far with the constant whining at times. If the author can have Kyon get a little less whiny, it would be perfect. Perhaps as Haruhi gets nicer and more moral, as she is starting to do, this will happen in future books. It would be a nice parallel character development.This is a really fun and cheeky light novel series, and I quite enjoy reading it.

Considering that the second novel in the Haruhi series was my first review, it's only appropriate that I go ahead and review the latest addition to English translation of the series.The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya, unlike the first two books, is not actually a novel, rather it is a collection of short stories taking place between the first two books. Fans of the anime will not find much new here as all four stories were adapted either during the first or second season, but they will probably be interested in finding out what scenes didn't make it onto the show.The four stories contained in the book are the following:1. The Boredom of Haruhi SuzumiyaThe title story of the book follows the group's attempt at playing a baseball game. The story has a few minor differences from the anime version, but pretty much nothing new here.2. Bamboo Leaf RhapsodyBy far my favorite story in the collection. Kyon and Mikuru travel back in time to witness (and assist) in an event mentioned in a previous book. I don't know if there were any events different from the anime version as I have not seen the second season of the series, but the story stands out as one of my favorites.3. Mysterique SignThe computer club president goes missing and the SOS Brigade is hired by his girlfriend to look for him. I'll admit, this was my least favorite episode of the anime and the short story does nothing to improve on it. Fortunately it's also the shortest story in the book.4. Remote Island SyndromeThe group goes on an island vacation to find themselves in a classic mystery scenario. My second favorite story in the collection and also the longest, taking up almost half of the book. Fans of the anime will notice many differences in this one. Probably due to length, the anime cut out several of the scenes, and curiously they also added a few that were not in the story.The book stands as a testament to how well done the anime was. As already pointed out, while reading the book, I counted only a few scenes that were not shown in the anime, most of which were in the final story. While this was somewhat disappointing because that meant I knew everything that was going to happen, it still made me even more impressed with the anime. Assuming the translation is accurate, one can't help but be a little impressed.While I would certainly suggest this for fans of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, this is far from the best book in the series. I'm going to have to go with 3 and a half stars, even though my review is listed as 4. Enjoyable book, but far from the best.

So I've been going through the Haruhi lite novels for a reason: To get to the point in the story in which I can start reading the Yuki manga. With that in mind I have been taking a faster pace with the Haruhi stuff than I might have liked. Book one was the best by far, book two being the worst (way too much Kyon whining) Book three being more like book 2 than book 1. First I should point out that this does follow the Anime pretty closely still, but I'm starting to notice more differences. The involvement of Kyon with Haruhi is emphasized differently in this book than the anime with Haruhi taking less of a direct place in all of the scenes. Basically the books are willing to have scenes between non-Haruhi characters and Kyon than the anime was. Furthermore while the treatment of Mikuru is far worse in the books than the anime, it is toned down in this one as compared to the first where it was just plain abusive. The book and the anime also take humor differently, where as the anime tried to gloss over terrible situations between the students as light hearted, in the book it come off as more bullying. I'm honestly not sure where the humor comes in on some of these scenes. When I ask myself what I find attractive about the Haruhi universe and books I come to the conclusion it is neither the plot, nor the characters, but rather the relationships between them and I do not mean romantic. Itsuki and Kyon end up being two of my favorites because their friendship is very loose and strained all of the time and yet if you read between the lines you kind of can see why they would be friends. This sort of gem is buried deep in these novels but can be found with careful reading. Ultimately I still think the Haruhi books are good but I am starting to wonder if they will ever go anyplace.

ottimo

読書用に英語の小説を探していたときにこの本に出会いました。まさかのラノベ英語版！！and日本にはないハードカバー版！！オタクの僕としては即購入でした。英語はある程度の力があり、大元の内容を知っているとそれほど苦労はしないかと思います。既刊のものすべてがハードカバーでないのが残念で仕方がないです(-_-;)ハルヒファンにはおすすめの一品です。電車など人前で読んでると目立ちます(笑)