Grotesque

by Natsuo Kirino | Mystery & Thrillers |
ISBN: 9780099488934 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingcluricaunewing of Armagh, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on 12/21/2009
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Journal Entry 1 by wingcluricaunewing from Armagh, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on Monday, December 21, 2009
"Grotesque", first published in Japan in 2003, is the second of Natsuo Kirino's novels to be translated into English. Kirino is one of the leading lights of Japanese mystery writing - she has won both the Naoki and Edogawa Rampo Prizes, while the English translation for "Out" was nominated for the 2004 Edgar Award.

"Grotesque" is told largely by a thirty-nine year old office-worker, only ever identified as Miss Hirata. Her father was a Swiss national, her mother was Japanese and she had one younger sister called Yuriko. There were big differences between the two girls though : Yuriko was considered exceptionally beautiful, while our narrator was - apparently - widely considered unattractive. Where Yuriko, in time, gained entry to the prestigious Q High School for Young Women thanks to her beauty, her elder sister was admitted through hard work. While our narrator works in the Day Care Section of the Welfare Division, Yuriko was murdered two years before the book opens - having spent much of her life working as a prostitute.

Our narrator had a old classmate - Kazue Sato - who, barely a year later, died the same way as Yuriko. However, unlike Yuriko, Kazue had worked exceptionally hard through school, attended a prestigious university and was employed in high-ranking firm. She remained desperate for recognition and, frowning on marraige, worked as a prostitute in the evening. Within a year of Yuriko's death, Kazue was also dead - killed in very similar circumstances. Although one man has been charged with both murders - Zhang Zhe-zhing, an illegal Chinese immigrant - it's only Kazue's murder people are interested in.

The book isn't told entirely by Yuriko's sister : both Yuriko's and Kazue's voices are heard through their old journal entries. Even the man charged with the murders pleads his case, through his own statement to the court. While it's interesting to see the same events from a number of different points of view, the only characters I felt any sympathy for were Yuriko and Mitsuru - one of the book's supporting characters and another former classmate of Yuriko's sister. She, like Kazue, had worked very hard at school and went on to study medicine at Tokyo University. However, Mitsuru also had her troubles after completing her studies - like Yuriko, she had been manipulated by those who should have been protecting her. In Yuriko's case, this manipulation set her on a path that eventually led to her death. Mitsuru, on the other hand, went on to serve a six-year prison sentence. However, she survived and appeared to be the only character who properly came to terms with her past. Yuriko's sister, the narrator, proved to be a thoroughly dislikeable character. She had considered Yuriko a monster from childhood, and felt no sadness when her younger sister died. She had developed a malicious, spiteful streak throughout her teenage years - Kazue was a regular target at school - but this streak remained with her into adult life.

"Grotesque" is a very different book to "Out" and a little different to the standard novel - where four characters give their own version of events. (These versions, naturally, do occasionally, conflict). It's a dark book, and isn't always an easy read - though it is well worth reading.

Journal Entry 2 by wingcluricaunewing from Armagh, Co. Armagh United Kingdom on Monday, December 21, 2009
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Journal Entry 3 by wingcluricaunewing at Belfast, Co. Antrim United Kingdom on Saturday, May 8, 2010

Released 13 yrs ago (5/8/2010 UTC) at Belfast, Co. Antrim United Kingdom

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CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Nordie.

Journal Entry 4 by nordie from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Friday, May 14, 2010
Excellent! Arrived this morning, will get to it as fast as I can. Thanks for sending it on!

Journal Entry 5 by nordie at Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Saturday, July 17, 2010
Agree that this is a difficult book to read. None of the characters come off particularly well, as each of them (most of them women) tell their version of events leading up to, and the subsequent fall out of the murders of two schoolmates, who for various reasons have descended into prostitution.

Each of the women have their own problems, in being too beautiful, not beautiful enough, wanting something unachievable, having pressure put on them externally and internally to be *more*.

Found it difficult to get any sympathy for any of the characters (if I remember the previous book "Out" correctly, I think they were a little more sympathetic even if they weren't much nicer).

Worth the read, so thanks for passing on!

Released 13 yrs ago (7/24/2010 UTC) at Hudson's, 122-124 Colmore Row in Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom

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Welcome to BookCrossing. Thanks for taking the time to visit the site. Please make a journal entry to let me know that you have found this book, you may do this anonymously or you may join. There is no charge to join this site, if you are like myself from time to time you may donate to help support Bookcrossing; but it is not mandatory. If you are new to BookCrossing and choose to join, please indicate that you were referred by Nordie. Membership is free and your name and e-mail address is not shared with anyone else and it will never be sold. BookCrossing is a world-wide group of people who love books and wish to share them with others.

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Journal Entry 7 by rachm2004 at ——- on a Ship, Galápagos Ecuador on Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Released 13 yrs ago (11/19/2010 UTC) at ——- on a Ship, Galápagos Ecuador

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

A compelling read

Journal Entry 8 by jadge at Phone box in Broad Street in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire United Kingdom on Friday, February 11, 2011

Released 13 yrs ago (2/11/2011 UTC) at Phone box in Broad Street in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left in phone box on Broad Street in Ross

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