angerball
Active Member
I thought I’d start a thread on this book, even though I’m only about half way through it. It has received mixed reviews on Amazon, plenty of them negative, usually complaining that the book wasn’t another Out. 
Briefly, the story is about the murder of two Tokyo prostitutes, both whom attended the same elite school in their youth. It is narrated primarily by Yuriko’s (one of the prostitutes) older sister, with additional accounts by the other characters told through excerpts of diaries or letters. Although this book is classified under Crime Fiction, the murders are peripheral to the story (at least so far). The murders merely serve as a focal point for a more exhaustive study of the two prostitutes, and what it was that led them down that particular path in life. So far, the majority of the book has dealt with the school years of the three main characters. I have to say, all the characters are pretty despicable, and even while I’m hooked on the story, I can’t help really hating them. Take the worst aspects of people (women especially, as the book is said to be an “analysis of the female psyche”), throw all these characters together, and the outcome is very psychologically brutal. I found myself cringing at some of the things said and done by these girls, and how they reveled in their own viciousness.
Has anyone else read this book? Or thinking of picking it up? I’d definitely recommend it; though I’m only halfway through it, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It's a very bleak, dark story. If you're into that, you'll dig this.
Briefly, the story is about the murder of two Tokyo prostitutes, both whom attended the same elite school in their youth. It is narrated primarily by Yuriko’s (one of the prostitutes) older sister, with additional accounts by the other characters told through excerpts of diaries or letters. Although this book is classified under Crime Fiction, the murders are peripheral to the story (at least so far). The murders merely serve as a focal point for a more exhaustive study of the two prostitutes, and what it was that led them down that particular path in life. So far, the majority of the book has dealt with the school years of the three main characters. I have to say, all the characters are pretty despicable, and even while I’m hooked on the story, I can’t help really hating them. Take the worst aspects of people (women especially, as the book is said to be an “analysis of the female psyche”), throw all these characters together, and the outcome is very psychologically brutal. I found myself cringing at some of the things said and done by these girls, and how they reveled in their own viciousness.
Has anyone else read this book? Or thinking of picking it up? I’d definitely recommend it; though I’m only halfway through it, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It's a very bleak, dark story. If you're into that, you'll dig this.