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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
Murder and graphic violence; the crimes are depicted with unflinching detail
Language
Some
Strong language
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit sexual content involving prostitution
Substance Use
Some
Significant substance use
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme psychological darkness; the novel is a dissection of female identity, social pressure, and self-destruction in Japanese society
What this book is about
Two former classmates — one beautiful and successful, one plain and overlooked — are found murdered as prostitutes in Tokyo. The novel's narrator, the dead women's classmate, tries to understand what drove them to their ends. Natsuo Kirino's internationally acclaimed Japanese crime novel is a scathing examination of Japanese society's treatment of women, written in a deliberately dark and transgressive register.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Graphic violence and murder
Explicit sexual content
Extreme psychological darkness
Adults only
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