I’m just about done reading Natsuo Kirino’s first novel, Out. It’s actually the second one of hers that I’ve read now (the first being Grotesque). I knew after that first one that I was hooked on Kirino’s writing, but I waited quite a while to pick up another one of hers because Grotesque was incredibly dark, and I’d read that all her books reflected that as well.
While the plots themselves are brutal enough, it’s like she strips the good out of people so all that’s left is the hideous, selfish and despicable parts that you loathe but can’t stop reading about.
When I finished Grotesque, I was in a weird place. There are little characteristics in myself, as well as other people I know, in characters of hers; seeing that made me feel something indescribable. It’s really that a person can spend all this time trying to get rid of a part of their self, only to find themselves confronted with it full force. It’s both appalling to me to see that side, as well as appealing in that I can learn a bit more about personality characteristics and mannerisms when they’re exploded into the full characters she portrays.
Anyway, I ought to work now. Do you have any recent favorite books weighing on your mind that you’d like to share?
I really enjoyed the movie Shopgirl, so I picked up the book too. The book is just as good as the movie. The main character is a dysfunctional young woman and for some reason I thought it was amazing at how well Steve Martin really understood what that would be like. It also parallels a lot of my life (without the happy ending…yet?) so its of particular interest to me.