A review by espookita
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Woman in the Purple Skirt is an homage to the pathology of stalking, reminiscent to me of the types Rear Window, Miser, and You. All the details of the story—specifics of geography, beyond urban Japan, the narrator’s name, almost any proper nouns, are sparingly absent. We know nothing about the narrator (the woman in the yellow cardigan) but all the intimate details of her victim’s life—the eponymous Woman in the Purple Skirt—to an almost excessive degree. The tunnel vision consuming the woman in the yellow cardigan is ever present throughout the writing of the book, suffocating, never leaving the focus of her target. If you’re interested in voyeurism and feeling like the fly on the wall in someone else’s life, this is the book for you. It is manipulative and dark and also deeply sad. In what is perverse, and also as happens often when done from the perspective of the stalker, I did find myself sympathising with her over the victim. Well-written in that you feel just as suffocated as its characters. 
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