I've read some pretty weird stuff in my time, most of it fantasy (oh hai, Mieville and Vandermeer). Kamikaze Girls can't really compare with cactus people or sentient mushrooms, but for a non-fantasy book, it comes really close.

The story follows two Japanese high schoolers, both fully immersed in different subcultures. Momoko is a Lolita, a genre in which girls dress in incredibly frilly, doll-like clothing. Ichigo is a Yanki, which is basically a biker chick. Together, they take on the world and each other.

This book is an absolute delight. Ichigo, for all her tough words and crass mannerisms, is actually quite a sweetheart. Momoko may endeavor to look like a porcelain doll, but she's also tough as steel and has zero time for any kind of BS. Momoko's narration is hysterical. I've never read a character like her's before.

I picked up Kamikaze Girls after I asked for recommendations for books that made you feel happy (this was mid-November last year, when everything had reached a new level of awful). And you know what? Kamikaze Girls succeeded. It's such a wonderful, funny, genuine book. The author never makes fun of Momoko and Ichigo (well, a little bit, but only in good fun), and by the end you really respect Momoko and Ichigo and what they do.

Let's hear it for the weirdos. ( )

Momoko is a Lolita. She lives by the Rococo lifestyle and dresses in frilly little girl clothes. She looks down at the Yanki's or uneducated. Then she meets Ichiko (who's real name is Ichigo/strawberry), and she is a hard-core biker. She may not be as intelligent, but she has the ethics that Momoko doesn't.
They are as different as two girls can be, but this is their story.

I read this book for a book group and I never would have read it on my own. It's geared for teens, but the language is foul and in the beginning it seems as though the book is about nothing at all. At least, nothing of importance. But it does get better and the climax is in the end. I'll say no more so I don't give anything away. ( )

Momoko vive en Shimotsuma, un pueblo rural de Japón, y está obsesionada con la estética "Lolita", un movimiento que adora el rococó francés del siglo XVIII y su forma de vestir. Su manera de ver la vida no encaja con la del lugar, que considera demasiado pueblerina para ella, por lo que decide vivir al margen de todo y pasar su tiempo dedicada a bordar, leer, escuchar música clásica y viajar a Tokio a comprar ropa de lolita.

Well.
Time to cry again.
This book will have a review soon! ( )

This book, originally written for a Japanese audience, assumes that the readers are familiar with Japanese culture, subculture and geography. I, however, am not. It might have helped if I had realized that there was a glossary to explain some of the terms used, like Yanki, so that I didn't go through the entire book thinking that Yanki was the equivalent of hick instead of juvenile delinquent. ( )