手紙、東野 圭吾

A book recommended to me by a friend.
A book that I just couldn't put down.

In order to kill her cheating husband, your mother sets fire to the family home and plans to escape with her two sons. The fire does kill your father, but unfortunately your mother gets mixed up in the chaos and dies too. Your older brother quits high school and gets a hard labour job at a moving company in order to support you. You both move into a small apartment and try to make ends meet. Your brother can see the potential you have and is adamant that you should go to university and not miss out like him. He reassures you that he will find the money. You don't want to put pressure on your brother who is already struggling to keep the job he has due to severe back problems, so you try to secure yourself a job. Anything to ease the stress on your brother.

But your brother realises what you are doing and panics. He promised your parents at their grave that he would look after you. He cannot fail you. So your brother secretly thinks up a plan to ensure your path into university. If only it was legal. If only it had gone to plan. If only the old lady didn't come home. If only the screwdriver your brother was holding hadn't accidentally stabbed her in the neck. If only.

Your brother was caught red-handed and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

While you try and get your head around what your brother did, your landlord knocks on your door and gives you two weeks to get out. He doesn't want "your sort" in his property. You get a job but as soon as your boss finds out that your brother is in prison for murder he finds a way to sack you. You get another job but again and again you are sacked when the truth about your brother comes to light. You fall in love, you join a band, you have a daughter... but again and again it is your brothers crime which stops things from succeeding.

Your brother makes your every move a struggle.
You write him a letter telling him that you are disowning him.
You pretend he never existed.
But, isn't that just confirming the prejudices that society holds?


***

English title: The Letters, by Keigo Higashino.
An easy read for JLPT N2 beginner.
I haven't watched the movie yet, but the trailer looks somewhat removed from the novel - the main character was never part of a comedy duo.