Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

by Asako Yuzuki

‘I learned from my late father that women should show generosity towards everyone. But there are two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine.’

‘Nobody has to be fully satisfied by just one thing, and nor do they have to aim to be like everyone else. It’s plenty if people can enjoy things a good amount, and be satisfied with their life overall. Enjoying a cigarette after a meal is okay, and putting on a little weight isn’t anything to merit fussing about. I guess some would see that as a slacker’s take, though.’

‘Sitting here looking at you, I feel my heart drying up like a desert. It’s so exhausting to watch people who live in such a sacrificial way. It makes me feel as though I’m being accused of something.

‘I think not taking care of yourself properly is a form of violence.’

‘“It’s so unfair that you don’t get praised for what goes on between your legs,” she used to say. “You have to publicise it yourself.”’

Is the woman daft, or what? Being that upset about what happens to somebody else’s body! How can someone be so conscious of what shape another person takes, of the extent to which they’ve liberated their desires? It’s not normal to feel such anxiety about that. If you’re paying more attention to the form other people are assuming than what’s taking place inside yourself, it means something is seriously wrong with you.’

As it grazed her cheeks, she smelled the scent of spring. It came as a shock to her that the warmer season was finally arriving, kicking away the cold, dry wind. And there she’d been, until a few minutes ago, thinking that nothing would change, that she couldn’t change a thing.