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    <user id="164711">
    <name><![CDATA[Shimelle]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[London, The United Kingdom]]></location>        
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      <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
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  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Jen]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Jan 20 10:21:13 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 20 10:46:01 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Having read this last week, I'm now confused.  Not about the book (which reads in a way that doesn't require the slightest bit of effort) or about Japanese culture (which comes to life with enough universality to make sense).  No.  I was confused as to why, with an MA in contemporary English literature -- and a specialism in gender studies -- I had only come to find this book now, at the suggestion of a dear friend.  During my studies, professors lauded extremes.  Books like Tim &amp; Pete, Dennis Cooper's Closer (which landed me in therapy - no joke) and pretty much anything Mark Ravenhill had touched (I was studying in England, after all).  While they had their place, and I'm sure professors are still quite happy to enlighten students with extremes, this book would have lent an important balance to the curriculum, that's all.<br/><br/>The two stories are simple, endearing and lovely...the type of stories I didn't think my boyfriend would find particularly interesting, but the type of stories that made me want to curl up with a bowl of noodles and a dream.  In fact, they are simpler than I would normally like, and yet the sweetness and the everyday quality of characters who are certainly not everyday make this less of a book and more a little time capsule.  With just a teaspoon of sugar on top.]]></body>
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