Hitomi Kanehara

Lui is a nineteen year old girl who falls in deep with a stranger she only know as Ama. Why? Because of his reptile-like tongue. She enters the world of tattoos and piercings blindly like a child at a candy store, hoping to get something cool out of it.

During this exploration of the underworld, she meets Shiba-san, a tattoo artist.

The masochist in her longs for the sadist (Shiba-san) yet the "Barbie-girl" in her is attached to Ama--even though she's fucking the other guy.

The books leads you through obvious twists and turns after an accidental murder.

It reads like a Hot Topic-ish sort of book. Something that isn't worth any time, minus the fact that it's only 120 pages long.… (altro)

Semi-random purchase in the used book section. I'd never heard of this, but I was promised an international bestseller, a prize winner, and a look at underground culture in Japan. How could I resist?

The reviews for this book are deeply divided, and it's easy to see why. This book has explicit sex, a nihilistic and depressed narrator, sadomasochism, and body modification. It's easy for all of that to come off as sensationalistic — especially for readers so far removed from the culture this book is steeped in — it makes it harder to judge how grounded in reality it is.

I didn't always enjoy this book. In fact, I was making some very extreme faces in public while reading some of these scenes. But I was always fascinated.

Seriously, all the content warnings, but especially for violence, rape, body horror, eating disorders.… (altro)