Lori
Firstly this is not a mystery book. The description made me think there would be more of a mystery and journalistic side to this book that wasn’t there. If you go into the book as more of a opening to self care, eating good food, and looking into the Japanese dynamics of working woman it’s not bad. Not knowing this does putt a damper on the book.
I really liked some of the conversations between the main character and Kajii and the exploration of good food, self love, and feminism. The food descriptions and talk were some of the best parts of the book and honestly made me want to try more food. The self love part was a mixed bag as there is constant talk of the main character weight gain and how people react to it. There is a part where she comes to like her body but there is still a stigma about having a little extra weight that I don’t feel was handled well enough.
There is some great discussions on how women are treated and viewed in both the work place and in life. This is what makes me like the book so much. I will not say these parts are life changing but they really open up a dialog to issues women face. I do wish there was more on this but what’s there is good. I liked the discussion about how females are treated in the media and specially about Kajii’s treatment since she was not a stereotypical body type. A gripe that I have for the book is with all these good points about female treatment not much is done by the main character to help bring change.
When it comes to Kajii the beginning was great the middle was eh and the end wasn’t bad. The initial conversations are almost a little erotic but very interesting. As the relationship between reporter and criminal progresses there is a lot more back and forth on their dynamic that is still good but not as interesting. The end was pretty good as we had a better view of both women and their story was neatly wrapped up.
The book is a little long but overall I liked the book and would recommend as a read at least once type book.
Firstly this is not a mystery book. The description made me think there would be more of a mystery and journalistic side to this book that wasn’t there. If you go into the book as more of a opening to self care, eating good food, and looking into the Japanese dynamics of working woman it’s not bad. Not knowing this does putt a damper on the book.
I really liked some of the conversations between the main character and Kajii and the exploration of good food, self love, and feminism. The food descriptions and talk were some of the best parts of the book and honestly made me want to try more food. The self love part was a mixed bag as there is constant talk of the main character weight gain and how people react to it. There is a part where she comes to like her body but there is still a stigma about having a little extra weight that I don’t feel was handled well enough.
There is some great discussions on how women are treated and viewed in both the work place and in life. This is what makes me like the book so much. I will not say these parts are life changing but they really open up a dialog to issues women face. I do wish there was more on this but what’s there is good. I liked the discussion about how females are treated in the media and specially about Kajii’s treatment since she was not a stereotypical body type. A gripe that I have for the book is with all these good points about female treatment not much is done by the main character to help bring change.
When it comes to Kajii the beginning was great the middle was eh and the end wasn’t bad. The initial conversations are almost a little erotic but very interesting. As the relationship between reporter and criminal progresses there is a lot more back and forth on their dynamic that is still good but not as interesting. The end was pretty good as we had a better view of both women and their story was neatly wrapped up.
The book is a little long but overall I liked the book and would recommend as a read at least once type book.