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聖なる黒夜〈下〉
591 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 3, 2015
This review will get long, sorry, but I have to establish why this is one-of-a-kind and so awesome.
There are a good number of books these days with gay characters, but they fall into 2 categories:
1. BL/fujoshi bait, featuring a dazzling display of a complete departure from reality, laughable stereotypes, shallow, cliched characters, sappy bullshit, raunchy fantasy sex written by women who clearly don't understand how it works, and, "Everyone is gay/where did all the women go" syndrome.
2. Token gay--gay character in an otherwise "normal" book. Their relationships will never be delved into on anything more than a superficial level, or if it's the focus, it will only ever be about the purity of ~feelings~, nothing sexual. These tend to also be shallow characters tossed in for diversity's sake or to simply explore the shock!!!111 of Forbidden Romance.
Oh, and bisexuals? Don't exist, period.
This book is different. Both of the main characters are bisexuals, with no gay stereotypes in sight. They're extremely complex, multi-faceted characters with deep motivations and thoughts. The relationships between ALL the characters in the book are treated equally/given equal levels of importance, and it is all pretty twisted and disturbing. Despite the fact that this is an 一般書, there is a LOT of sex, and all of it is both graphic and realistic. This is an unbelievable combination that I doubt I will ever see again. At times I was disgusted by some of the graphic content, but the author has serious balls for not shying away from anything in a mainstream book.
There was a lot about the book(s) that grossed me out or made me feel like this crapsack world wasn't worth getting into, but then I realized that this book was also giving me everything I've ever wanted in a book and taking me everywhere I hoped it would go. It was enticing, emotional, realistic, dark, strangely romantic, mature, and depressing most of all.
It goes without saying, but this was also a great mystery novel--there were a few times I was actually really surprised by developments/twists, and everything actually came together wonderfully despite my complaints about the first book. I still think it was a little bit overly complicated, but in the end it was a deeply satisfying mystery in addition to being an amazing examination of some really fucked up characters.
This is a book about revenge and just how far it can go; about the consequences of your past actions catching up with you; about who really has the right to judge other human beings; about the fine line between love and hate and how they can sometimes be the same thing; about redemption--or, more sadly/accurately, about being completely beyond redemption--about terrible people doing terrible things and how much they're to blame for it versus how much they're simply products of their circumstances. This is an emotional roller coaster full of tension about people who want to kill each other even as they love each other (though they'd never admit it), about people destined for unhappiness and misfortune no matter what they do, about dashed hopes and betrayal. Everything that could go wrong goes wrong, and there is very little that even reaches levels that could be called "bittersweet" because it's mostly just bitter and bleak. This had me wishing desperately for happiness even as I knew it was impossible... but in the end I was happy the author didn't cave in and instead decided to keep things realistic and basically a black hole of despair.
This is the best book I have ever read. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and it basically consumed my life. I was so emotionally invested in the characters, and when I got to the last page, I felt like the author had expertly ripped out my heart and stomped all over it. Was this book perfect? Would I recommend it to everyone? No, but it was perfect for *me*. This is what I have always wanted, and I take back all of my complaints for the first book. I will read this again, and this is a huge inspiration for me because it's proof that somewhere out there, somebody is making amazing content relevant to me and my interests.
There are a good number of books these days with gay characters, but they fall into 2 categories:
1. BL/fujoshi bait, featuring a dazzling display of a complete departure from reality, laughable stereotypes, shallow, cliched characters, sappy bullshit, raunchy fantasy sex written by women who clearly don't understand how it works, and, "Everyone is gay/where did all the women go" syndrome.
2. Token gay--gay character in an otherwise "normal" book. Their relationships will never be delved into on anything more than a superficial level, or if it's the focus, it will only ever be about the purity of ~feelings~, nothing sexual. These tend to also be shallow characters tossed in for diversity's sake or to simply explore the shock!!!111 of Forbidden Romance.
Oh, and bisexuals? Don't exist, period.
This book is different. Both of the main characters are bisexuals, with no gay stereotypes in sight. They're extremely complex, multi-faceted characters with deep motivations and thoughts. The relationships between ALL the characters in the book are treated equally/given equal levels of importance, and it is all pretty twisted and disturbing. Despite the fact that this is an 一般書, there is a LOT of sex, and all of it is both graphic and realistic. This is an unbelievable combination that I doubt I will ever see again. At times I was disgusted by some of the graphic content, but the author has serious balls for not shying away from anything in a mainstream book.
There was a lot about the book(s) that grossed me out or made me feel like this crapsack world wasn't worth getting into, but then I realized that this book was also giving me everything I've ever wanted in a book and taking me everywhere I hoped it would go. It was enticing, emotional, realistic, dark, strangely romantic, mature, and depressing most of all.
It goes without saying, but this was also a great mystery novel--there were a few times I was actually really surprised by developments/twists, and everything actually came together wonderfully despite my complaints about the first book. I still think it was a little bit overly complicated, but in the end it was a deeply satisfying mystery in addition to being an amazing examination of some really fucked up characters.
This is a book about revenge and just how far it can go; about the consequences of your past actions catching up with you; about who really has the right to judge other human beings; about the fine line between love and hate and how they can sometimes be the same thing; about redemption--or, more sadly/accurately, about being completely beyond redemption--about terrible people doing terrible things and how much they're to blame for it versus how much they're simply products of their circumstances. This is an emotional roller coaster full of tension about people who want to kill each other even as they love each other (though they'd never admit it), about people destined for unhappiness and misfortune no matter what they do, about dashed hopes and betrayal. Everything that could go wrong goes wrong, and there is very little that even reaches levels that could be called "bittersweet" because it's mostly just bitter and bleak. This had me wishing desperately for happiness even as I knew it was impossible... but in the end I was happy the author didn't cave in and instead decided to keep things realistic and basically a black hole of despair.
This is the best book I have ever read. I couldn't stop thinking about it, and it basically consumed my life. I was so emotionally invested in the characters, and when I got to the last page, I felt like the author had expertly ripped out my heart and stomped all over it. Was this book perfect? Would I recommend it to everyone? No, but it was perfect for *me*. This is what I have always wanted, and I take back all of my complaints for the first book. I will read this again, and this is a huge inspiration for me because it's proof that somewhere out there, somebody is making amazing content relevant to me and my interests.
July 10, 2014
私にとっては「観覧車」の後、2冊目の柴田よしき作品でした。上巻の途中までは、もしかして柴田よしきは男性だった？と思いましたが、下巻で会話を中心に女性作家特有の特徴が顕著になるので、女性であることを再確認しました。
高村薫の「李謳」を彷彿させながら、会話の多さ（特に下巻）で読みやすい（柴田作品はどれも会話主体で読みやすいですが、その中ではこの作品は際立ってじっくり読ませますが）。BL愛好家にもファンが多い作品だそうで、その点も「李謳」に似ているのかな。ですが、この作品はボーイズラブというジャンルに特定される作品ではなく、ミステリーでもあり、警察小説でもあり、ヤクザ文学でもあり、ハードボイルド作品であり、哀しい人間の心の道程を綴った作品でもあり、色々な要素の詰まったジャンルの特定の出来ない幅の広い深い傑作だと思います。衝撃的でした。Riko作品も花咲シリーズも読了しましたが、一番ダークで、一番印象の強い作品で、柴田作品で一番好きな作品です。著者自身も一番大事な作品だそうですが、頷けます。
ポイントは山内と麻生の心の旅路です。それは社会的には転落であり堕落でありながら、美しい愛の軌跡であり、その心の旅路が丹念に書き込まれていて他者を寄せ付けない高潔ささえ漂います。おススメです。
高村薫の「李謳」を彷彿させながら、会話の多さ（特に下巻）で読みやすい（柴田作品はどれも会話主体で読みやすいですが、その中ではこの作品は際立ってじっくり読ませますが）。BL愛好家にもファンが多い作品だそうで、その点も「李謳」に似ているのかな。ですが、この作品はボーイズラブというジャンルに特定される作品ではなく、ミステリーでもあり、警察小説でもあり、ヤクザ文学でもあり、ハードボイルド作品であり、哀しい人間の心の道程を綴った作品でもあり、色々な要素の詰まったジャンルの特定の出来ない幅の広い深い傑作だと思います。衝撃的でした。Riko作品も花咲シリーズも読了しましたが、一番ダークで、一番印象の強い作品で、柴田作品で一番好きな作品です。著者自身も一番大事な作品だそうですが、頷けます。
ポイントは山内と麻生の心の旅路です。それは社会的には転落であり堕落でありながら、美しい愛の軌跡であり、その心の旅路が丹念に書き込まれていて他者を寄せ付けない高潔ささえ漂います。おススメです。
April 16, 2024
Rating for the duology: 3.5 rounded up loved the love/hate masochism tango, unimpressed by the mystery and the writing, hated the omnipresent sexism and misogyny.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews