Grotesque - Natsuo Kirino

[Ann M]

I so thoroughly loved Out, her first translated novel, that I had high hopes for Grotesque. Unfortunately, it was long-winded and loaded with irrelevant details about Japanese girls' schools. There were also diary excerpts, that, excuse me -- could someone explain to her that it's more important to keep the reader's attention that to accurately mimic boring, annoying people? A boring, annoying book.

[Caroline]

Kirino is a very gritty, noir author. Both of her novels released in the US have been really dark and dealing with the "uglier" sides of Japanese culture, and the writing really reflects it. Not sure how Yoshimoto's writing is, as I haven't read anything, but I can't imagine they'd be all that similar from what I've heard of Yoshimoto.

That said, I actually really loved Grotesque. Something about the uncertainty of who to believe, I think, is what really won me over on it. It totally seems to be a love-or-hate kind of book, and I can see why some people couldn't stand it. I usually struggle with books where all the protagonists are fairly nasty, but it just seemed to fit the story perfectly. I think she could have done without making it so long, though--seemed to drag on way more than necessary.