Lui is a nineteen year old girl who falls in deep with a stranger she only know as Ama. Why? Because of his reptile-like tongue. She enters the world of tattoos and piercings blindly like a child at a candy store, hoping to get something cool out of it.

During this exploration of the underworld, she meets Shiba-san, a tattoo artist.

The masochist in her longs for the sadist (Shiba-san) yet the "Barbie-girl" in her is attached to Ama--even though she's fucking the other guy.

The books leads you through obvious twists and turns after an accidental murder.

It reads like a Hot Topic-ish sort of book. Something that isn't worth any time, minus the fact that it's only 120 pages long. ( )

Semi-random purchase in the used book section. I'd never heard of this, but I was promised an international bestseller, a prize winner, and a look at underground culture in Japan. How could I resist?

The reviews for this book are deeply divided, and it's easy to see why. This book has explicit sex, a nihilistic and depressed narrator, sadomasochism, and body modification. It's easy for all of that to come off as sensationalistic — especially for readers so far removed from the culture this book is steeped in — it makes it harder to judge how grounded in reality it is.

I didn't always enjoy this book. In fact, I was making some very extreme faces in public while reading some of these scenes. But I was always fascinated.

Seriously, all the content warnings, but especially for violence, rape, body horror, eating disorders. ( )

This was really interesting, I'd never read anything from a Japanese writer before this & I really liked it. Its about a girl who's with this punk guy (I think this is a big deal in Japan, because she's a "Barbie Girl" & I don't think the two groups mix), & she's getting body mods from his friend who fucks her as payment. It does sound quite messed up, & would sound even more so if I were to tell you the ending, but I really, really enjoyed it. Plus, its the only book I think I've ever read in one day. ( )

Thoroughly repulsive. I mean that in a bad way. ( )

Forget serenity, temples, stone gardens, tea ceremonies or geisha. Forget your cliche and probably stereotyped image of Japan. Forget also Haruki Murakami and his dreamlike novels. With Hitomi Kanehara, a young Japanese female writer, you will enter a very different Japan, in which underground culture, body modification, and (sexual) violence play a large role.
Snakes and earrings is quite a disturbing novel. See also the other reviews. Having a vivid imagination the tongue-piercing scenes left me quite disgusted! However I still felt that this is a very interesting novel in its own way. Its protagonist Lui, a 19 year old girl in Tokyo, is lost. Society wants her to be cute, a barbie-girl, playacting the role of kimono-wearing hostess/ semi-geisha as a temporary job. Lui wants to escape this fate (not that she expresses it in that way, it is just what she does), the oppression of society, but underground culture brings just as much violence, even if this is more physical. It is a very sad story about a girl who wants to feel, but the only thing left for her to feel is pain. I thought this was a very interesting and different view on Japanese society. ( )