Nasuo Korino

Rabbit holes...oh how I love to go down them. The warren I am currently exploring is feminist Japanese writers. Make no mistake, this is a category that holds high interest, for if anyone has a cultural curiosity about modern, and women's roles in it, then reading authors such as Natsuo Kirino is imperative.

Margaret Atwood said: "Men worry about women laughing at them. Women worry about men killing them." Until a man recognizes the truth in that statement, he can not properly appreciate the female perspective. There is no more enjoyable way to begin to understand, as a man, women's perceptions than to read an incredible author like Natsuo Kirino.

Originally referred to by the legend himself, Murakami (more on him separately), in one of his novels of modern Japan, I knew she was not to be missed. Having read several other popular Japanese authors before, other than Murakami, Kirino had quite a field to compete with. She left them all standing still with a blast of talent that leaves only one regret; that only five of her novels have been translated into English. Until I learn Japanese, I can only wait impatiently for the rest of her catalog to become available, meanwhile we have these:

In her novel Grotesque, Kirino deals with the self-perception of a female protagonist; adolescent and adult insecurities, self-delusions, and illusions. In sum, we spend so much time trying to maintain, shadows, struggles, and dependence issues. The most psychologically astute coming of age story of a woman I have ever read.

Out is tense. A mesmerizing hard-boiled novel that depicts the bottom of society in ways that subtly written, not just as sadomasochistic entertainment as so many novels do when they try to do gore, but as social protest. The reader becomes engrossed in the storytelling and learns a great deal indeed about the subjugation of women in Japanese society.

In The Goddess Chronicles, this revered crime novelist takes on the Japanese creation myth, retelling it from a feminist perspective in elegant writing that delivers a taut, disturbing and timeless tale that shows the battles that woman have to fight every day, battles that have existed since the moment of creation.