There was a scene in this book where, for some reason I don't even remember, pubes were flying everywhere. So that's what I think of when this book comes to mind. Flying pubes.

That's about all you need to know about this book. ( )

[[Natsuo Kirino]] is a relatively unknown here in the states, but her noir-driven, gritty crime books are lush. This one follows several school girls who get caught up in a murder by one of their schoolmates. Each reacts differently to the murder but all become entangled with the murderer in different ways. True to her darkness, Kirino plots a terrible end for the group, a surprising one, if realistic.

Because Kirino's characters are primarily school aged this time around, some might initially get the idea it is a YA book, but it's most definitely not. This one wasn't as good as [Out] but it stands up. Kirino deserves more attention outside Japan.

4 bones!!!!
Recommended ( )

Toshi Is a teenage girl, living in a suburb of Tokyo. One summer morning before she heads out to her summer "cram school," she hears the sound of breaking glass next door. When she heads out to the train station for school, on her bicycle, the nextdoor boy, usually a wormy little creep (hence his nickname Worm), smiles at her and seems really upbeat. She finds out later that he had just murdered his mother with a baseball bat. The creepy little psychopath steals Toshi's bike, locked up at the station, and her cell phone, which she accidentally left in her bike basket. From her cell phone, he gets the name of her and her three best friends, and calls all of them. His entrance into their lives has a devastating effect, but not as bad as I imagined it could have been.

This felt like a YA book. It made me uncomfortable to read how the character of Worm acted and talked. I didn't like how the girl interacted with him when she accompanied him to the Mount Asama area. I wanted him to die instead of her, in the taxicab accident. I felt like the characters were not fleshed out much. Hopefully, the next book I read from this author will be better. ( )

grotesque is much better ( )

Real World by Natsuo Kirino was originally published in 2003 then translated into English in 2008. The story describes the lives of four teenage girls, Toshi, Terauchi, Yuzan and Kirarin. It is set against the backdrop of the murder of Toshi’s neighbour by her seventeen year old son. By inter-changing cell phones the girls have come in contact with the juvenile killer who is on the run, and it soon becomes clear that he is in need of some psychiatric help. The girls treat the murder and manhunt like a celebrity sighting, they cheer him on and help him with loans of bikes and cell phones. One of the girls, Kirarin, actually goes and joins him not thinking about the consequences or dangers of this.

Adults in this book are peripheral and when they appear they are often neglectful parents, alcoholic fathers or adulterous mothers. Where Real World excels in in the descriptions of the life of the teenagers. The stress of educational expectations, the desire to be individuals in a society that expects conformity, the loss of trust and respect for parents who they consider hypocrites allows these girls to put the young murderer on a pedestal for rebelling.

I can’t say that I enjoyed this book, the culture and customs described are very different from my own, and I found the girls attitude rather scary. The author writes well and really places the reader inside the head of these teens, which was not a place I wanted to be. The end of the book came suddenly and violently although it did involve a turn toward moral consciousness, there was no satisfaction in the result. ( )