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shona_reads_in_devon 's review for:
Butter
by Asako Yuzuki
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
'𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒂𝒋𝒊𝒊'𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏?'
'𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆'
__________________________
I have a fundamental issue with this book which means it's probably not fair of me to take into account. I don't really care about food. I don't really want to read about it.
Butter focuses on a female journalist's relationship with a convicted serial killer: a woman who, dedicating her life to satisfying the culinary needs of her male lovers, came to notoriety when three of them died in suspicious circumstances. The relationship between the two takes many twists and turns and forms the basis to explore many issues of contemporary Japanese life.
Given this novel is concerned largely with cooking, tasting and thinking about food, I found a lot of this kind of dull to my tastes.
But. It is really, really thought-provoking. I don't know much about Japanese culture or life. Many of the issues talked about in this book feel extreme from my Western sensibilities - I'd guess from this book that Japan still has quite traditional gender roles and family structures. Placing food at the centre of this story gives rise to the opportunity to explore so many ideas relating to women's position in society - around friendship, the fetishisation of food, the power that making and serving food gives, and how this relates to the concept of domesticity and relationships between men and women. It tackles consumption - both relating to food and people in the public eye.
At the start of this novel everyone feels very lonely. Food is quick, convenient and eaten in isolation. Food is explored as a communal activity, as a way to bring people together and to stave off isolation.
Overall I found the book fair to middling - the ideas it brought up for me were really interesting, and there was a middle section to the plot that kept me interested, but overall the actual story dragged out for me and it wasn't super entertaining.
'𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆'
__________________________
I have a fundamental issue with this book which means it's probably not fair of me to take into account. I don't really care about food. I don't really want to read about it.
Butter focuses on a female journalist's relationship with a convicted serial killer: a woman who, dedicating her life to satisfying the culinary needs of her male lovers, came to notoriety when three of them died in suspicious circumstances. The relationship between the two takes many twists and turns and forms the basis to explore many issues of contemporary Japanese life.
Given this novel is concerned largely with cooking, tasting and thinking about food, I found a lot of this kind of dull to my tastes.
But. It is really, really thought-provoking. I don't know much about Japanese culture or life. Many of the issues talked about in this book feel extreme from my Western sensibilities - I'd guess from this book that Japan still has quite traditional gender roles and family structures. Placing food at the centre of this story gives rise to the opportunity to explore so many ideas relating to women's position in society - around friendship, the fetishisation of food, the power that making and serving food gives, and how this relates to the concept of domesticity and relationships between men and women. It tackles consumption - both relating to food and people in the public eye.
At the start of this novel everyone feels very lonely. Food is quick, convenient and eaten in isolation. Food is explored as a communal activity, as a way to bring people together and to stave off isolation.
Overall I found the book fair to middling - the ideas it brought up for me were really interesting, and there was a middle section to the plot that kept me interested, but overall the actual story dragged out for me and it wasn't super entertaining.