Do the suffocating pressures of Japanese society produce monsters? Does trying to live by men¡¯s rules drive women crazy? These are two of the questions posed by Natsuo Kirino in her powerful new novel, ¡°Grotesque.¡±
In her earlier mystery, titled ¡°Out,¡± now available in an English translation from Kodansha International, Kirino looked at four women leading lives of quiet desperation on the fringes of Japanese society. ¡°Grotesque¡± (Bungei Shunjuu, 536 pp.), on the other hand, was inspired by a 1997 murder in which the victim was a 39-year-old woman who was a researcher at Tokyo Electric Power Co. by day, and a prostitute by night.
Why would a career woman at an elite firm lead such a double life? Kirino starts exploring possible answers in one microcosm of Japanese society she calls school Q (thought to represent Keio), and the coping mechanisms of four female students there.
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