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A review by kinosthesia
Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
5.0
Just finished reading this today and am still reeling from the story that centers on the lives of four women who once went to school together and two of whom are related. The main narrated voice is unnamed except by her relationship to Yuriko, her younger sister and murdered prostitute whose unnatural beauty has defined her life. Yuriko has a voice via her diaries, as does Kazue a classmate who met the same fate in the same profession.
I was really impressed by Kirino's first translated novel 'Out' and had read 'Real World' and with this novel am once again impressed by the strong character portrayals and the social commentary she expresses by using the relationship dynamics of the four women involved.
The basic principle of the novel (for me) is that as women we are sold an ideal that we cannot achieve, trapped by the rigidity of society and expectations of others; forced to turn against each other in the struggle to achieve what we cannot and define ourselves by how others look, behave and gain success and in doing so become trapped.
I've filed this book on my 'feminist' shelf as one of the darker and more disturbing portrayals of women in modern society and, as with all Kirino's novels, it doesn't really feel much like fiction at all.
I was really impressed by Kirino's first translated novel 'Out' and had read 'Real World' and with this novel am once again impressed by the strong character portrayals and the social commentary she expresses by using the relationship dynamics of the four women involved.
The basic principle of the novel (for me) is that as women we are sold an ideal that we cannot achieve, trapped by the rigidity of society and expectations of others; forced to turn against each other in the struggle to achieve what we cannot and define ourselves by how others look, behave and gain success and in doing so become trapped.
I've filed this book on my 'feminist' shelf as one of the darker and more disturbing portrayals of women in modern society and, as with all Kirino's novels, it doesn't really feel much like fiction at all.