“If you could put a price on human life, how much would it be?” Three Days of Happiness I can easily say is one of my favorite books. While reading this book I felt so many things and could vividly imagine it. There were some pretty unexpected surprises throughout it and overall it had an amazing story.

The book is about a man named Kusunoki who has a terrible life. As a child he and another girl (Himeno) were bullied for being outcasts. As they were the only ones that could understand each other, they became friends. One day the teacher asks the class, “Now, children, human life is considered to be the most valuable thing of all, completely irreplaceable. If you were to put that in an actual monetary amount, how much do you think it would be?” Himeno responds with the answer, “The lifetime earnings of a Japanese salaryman is around two or three hundred million yen, according to the book I read. That should be about right for the average person.” Later in 4th grade when they were 10, Himeno and Kusunoki made a promise to become important people in 10 years when they’re 20. However shortly after that, Himeno had to move away leaving Kusunoki by himself. From there Kusunoki started to live a terrible life with little money. One day while selling some of his treasured CDs and books, he learned of a place where you can sell or buy lifespan, time, and health. Kusunoki originally thought it was fake and people were playing a joke on him, but he decided to visit it anyway. There he met a young girl around his age (Miyagi) who was attending to the store. He learned he had 30 years and 3 months to live so he decided to sell his 30 years leaving him with only 3 months to live. Kusunoki thought he would get 300 million or 3 billion yen but instead got only 300,000 yen for his 30 years. After selling his life span, Miyagi showed up at Kusunoki’s doorstep as his monitor.

The story starts off with a flashback to the past which brings up questions and wonders, which I think is something that’s essential to a good book. It also conveys the emotions the character is feeling nicely because it almost feels as if you’re in the character’s position sometimes. As Kusunoki does some of the things he wants to do before he dies, he faces problems with some, but for the most part it can get pretty relaxing and wholesome. As we go farther into the book Kusunoki and Miyagi’s relationship slowly evolves which shows good character development. This story can also help you see the value of life and how not everyone is equal. What determines how much your life is worth is dependent on what you do with it and how willing you are to bring happiness into your life and the lives of the people close to you. You might also have your own interpretations of the message conveyed by the story. There are more good things I want to say, but I don’t want to spoil anything. The last really good thing I want to say about this book is something that is one of the most important parts of any story. The ending of the book was amazing. It was full of emotion and gave a sharp turn around from what you expected, giving a satisfying ending that will have a good chance of making you cry.

There are some bad things about this book though. For one thing, some people might not like how it switches objectives so often. Kusunoki keeps either finishing what he wants to do or something happens that causes him to change what he’s doing. Also, some characters might seem annoying which some people don’t like, but this is part of the story so it’s not that bad. There might also be other things people might not like about this book, but I personally don’t have a problem with these.

This book is highly rated and I think it’s worth reading. If you’re into action or other genres like that, this book might not be the best for you. There is a good amount of conflict but not much physical fighting. If you like drama, romance, psychological, supernatural, or genres like those, I highly recommend you read this book. It also has some light slice of life but doesn’t really get too much into it. I give Three Days of Happiness a 10/10. I hope this review was somewhat useful. Thank you for reading.