むらさきのスカートの女

The premise of this book is one woman, Yellow Cardigan Woman, talking about another woman, Purple Skirt Woman, who she sees about town.

The story unfolds from there, or maybe I should liken it to peeling back layers of an onion. This story did not go the direction I expected given the narration at the beginning, and I feel like it was a nice surprise in a way. I really don't want to say more to avoid spoiling it, but essentially if you enjoy character studies and unreliable narrators this is a great book to pick up.

Some of narration is a bit confusing, largely due to the unreliableness of our narrator and her rambling way of describing things to us. The writing is not particularly flowery and there isn't much for slang or idioms.

Insofar as vocabulary is concerned though this book will present no real difficulty to anyone familiar with your average novel about daily life. Specialized vocab is near nonexistent.

I find it very hard to write a review of this book without spoiling anything or writing my own interpretation of it, but one thing is for sure: I loved it.

There's a woman with a purple skirt in the narrator's neighbourhood, and it seems that she's something of a local character, although not much is known about her. The narrator (also a woman) has taken an interest in her, and watches her from afar.

Much of the book is very mundane, everyday stuff, but there is always a slight sense of unease in the background, something always a little bit off, that kept me on my toes the whole time. The ending is powerful, and very open to interpretation.

The language is generally simple, and the vocabulary common, dealing with shopping, workplaces, public transportation and other everyday subjects. Combined with the relatively few pages, I think this book may be a good candidate for early attempts at reading Japanese literature.