The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya (light novel) (The Haruhi Suzumiya Series, 2) (Volume 2)

The anime version of Haruhi Suzumiya opens up with a spectacularly awful student film featuring an incoherent story, laughably bad camerawork, cheesy special effects, ultra-low budget commercials, and a talking cat. No one who has seen the film has ever forgotten it. This book chronicles how the movie was made. For this reason alone, I recommend this book. It isn't as funny as the first book (although it's still very humorous), and it takes a while to get going; however, learning the reason why Nagato tackles Mikuru during one scene, as well as the real reason Haruhi narrates a disclaimer at the end of the movie, are worth the prices of admission alone. This book also hints at the various conflicts the secret Haruhi-watching organizations have with each other. After reading the book, I went back and watched the movie again. The bizarre conversations that Nagato, Mikuru, and Koizumi have in the movie (especially Nagato and Koizumi) seemed to make more sense, although it could just be my imagination. Overall, I really liked this book. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of them, and then watching season two of the Haruhi anime to see how the episodes stack up.

Unless one of the students in your class is Haruhi Suzumiya. In which case you have to be very, very careful. She may not know it, but she can change the world. Or bring it to an end without even thinking about it. And when she decides that the Club is going to make a film, then you better let her make a film. The only problem is making sure that the fiction of the film does not leak into the reality of real life. What happens if fact and fiction start to mix, with lasers coming out of the eyes and talking cats? Watch as Kyon and the rest of the club try to make a film without turning the world into one!

Overall, this book was a good read. However, it took too long to get to the heart of the story, and the excessive pop culture references annoyed me after about 100 pages. Despite that, once the story got into gear, it was very well written.

Though it starts off a bit slower than the first book this sequel quickly picks up and delivers the same wit and off-the-wall circumstance that the series is known for. If you enjoyed the first book then this is a great buy.

Like most people who would get this book, I am a big fan of the anime. When the first book came out, I picked it up immediately. Same with this one. So what were my thoughts? In one word, mixed. Unlike the first book, this one was not apart of the original first season (though it is in the new series), but we did see the aftermath of this story in the first episode. Yes, this is how the movie was made. Let's get this out of the way first, there are some issues with the novel. While the book looks to be accurately translated, some of the lines don't flow. The translation would have been helped incredibly just by using a syllabus to change use a few different words. It also occasionally feels like the characters are repeating themselves, but I don't know if that's the translator or how it was originally written. It also doesn't seem quite as funny as the first book. That is not to say that there are no laughs, there is a particularly funny scene involving a talking cat, but the book is mostly filled with chuckles rather than laugh out loud moments. Now that the complaints are out of the way, let me say that this is a very fun novel. It has moments of wit and filled with whimsy throughout. There are nods to films that are at times very clever (such as the Amadeus reference) and one of the greatest philosophical conversations about human speech ever put into words. The best part of the book would have to be the insight we get into the characters and their motives. This doesn't happen until late into the book, but it does make you question the actions of some of the members of the SOS Brigade. I would also like to add that the ending is perfect. An oddly satisfying anticlimax that doesn't feel like the author cheated, but ended the story in the only way it logically could end. Well, logically in this illogical filled world in which the characters reside. Like the first book, I knew going in that this was not great literature, but it is fun and definitely worth reading if you were a fan of the first or the anime series. I eagerly look forward to the third book.