Actual Rating - 3.5/5
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| Book Review | Penance.
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Yet another Japanese author that I've come to like and the credit goes to Penance. Kanae Minato began writing in her thirties and her very first novel 'Confessions' was a spectacular hit. Just a year later she wrote Penance but it didn't seem to impress the readers much. I haven't read Confessions but after reading Penance, I have no doubt that Minato is a brilliant writer. Penance is different from any of the crime novels I've read till date and although it's a good thing, it also tends to elevate ones' expectations. When it comes to writing murder mysteries, Higashino does it best. But Minato has a certain charm in her writing style that's not easy to find.
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Five children go to play volleyball in their school ground during holidays but only four return back. Emily's murder comes as a shock to the old sleepy town where nothing bad takes place. The kids - Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko weren't of much help to the police in describing the murderer. As each girl tries to deal with the murder in her own way, Emily's mother later accuses the girls for not finding the murderer and asks them to either catch him before the statute of limitations is up or atone for their sins. This particular instance changes the girls'lives in ways that no one can imagine. Fifteen years later, stories of these girls are narrated in detail, each of them talking about the murder and how they dealt with it.
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It comes as no shock that the four girls who are now women are haunted by their past. With death latched onto their backs, they either write letters or confront Emily's mother about how she ruined their lives. The five chapters in the book are dedicated to each of the girls plus the mother, as they open up about what truly happened with Emily and how they atoned for no fault of theirs.
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The plot may sound simple but there are many stories interwoven delicately, that provides this book a haunting effect. Blaming children for something that's out of their hands leaves a lasting impact on young minds. While they carried the burden of Emily's murder on their shoulders for more than fifteen years, all the four girls commit crimes in the latter years. It's amusing to see how one fateful day managed to shift the course of their lives forever. Penance is an intense novel, often making you feel that it's a bit too much to handle. It felt unnecessarily lengthy, something that I don't appreciate in my reads. But there's also a sense of eerie beauty that Minato manages to associate with the book. As far as crime novels go, this wasn't my favourite but will I read other books by Minato? Yes, definitely. If you are searching for a different take on murder mysteries, choose this.