_Real World_ by Natsuo Kirino
Last summer I was plowing through books like the world was going to end and so I put out a call on FB for some book recommendations. My high school Japanese teacher recommended _Out_ by Kirino, but as there was no Kindle version, I opted for _Real World_. As a side, I am all about the ebooks these days since moving around so much makes it difficult to carry books around. So, if I can’t get it digitally, I generally don’t read it.
So, as you may or may not recall, I’m not much of a fan of contemporary literature and it is even more rare that I can get into a Japanese contemporary piece of work. However, I have to say this one was very interesting. The story revolves around a high school girl whose neighbor kills his mother. Somehow the girl and her friends help him to escape, but then bad things happen to them. The story progresses with changing viewpoints of each of the young adults involved.
It was an engaging story and made a realistic picture of people. I sometimes wonder if my own emotions and mental state have not truly evolved much beyond my high school / teenage years as I do identify well with young minds. So, the story was one I could put myself into and feel the characters’ emotions and share their thoughts. It was suspenseful and very honest/direct in its topics, so I enjoyed it a great deal. π
-T
