AUTHOR: Hitomi Kanehara
TRANSLATOR: David James Karashima
PUBLISHER: Dutton Adult
PUBLICATION DATE: May 19, 2005
PUBLISHER: Dutton Adult
PUBLICATION DATE: May 19, 2005
FORMAT: Hardcover, 120 pages
GENRE: Fiction, Japanese Literature
ISBN: 9780525948896
GENRE: Fiction, Japanese Literature
ISBN: 9780525948896
An underground world.
A murder.
An international phenomenon.
Snakes and Earrings...
Enchanted by the snakelike tongue of a stranger called Ama, nineteen-year-old Lui takes a walk into another side of life. On the Tokyo streets, she finds a world where pain bleeds into pleasure. Where day fades into night. And where right turns into wrong.
This book was originally published in Japanese as Hebi ni piasu. Hitomi Kanehara is one of the youngest authors to have ever won the Akutagawa Prize, which she received in 2003 for Snakes and Earrings, her debut novel.
Lui Nakazawa is a 19 year-old young woman who has a fascination with body modification, specifically “stretching” which involves inserting larger and larger gauge earrings in her earlobes to stretch the holes bigger and bigger. She meets an 18 year-old boy named Ama, whose snake-like forked tongue piques her curiosity. He explains the process by which he achieved the forked result: Getting his tongue pierced and then stretching the hole with studs that increase in thickness until you reach “00” gauge, at which point you can slice through the remaining tip with a scalpel. The two hook-up, and Lui decides that she wants a tongue just like Ama’s.
Ama takes Lui to a piercing/tattoo shop named Desire, which
is owned by Kizuki “Shiba-san” Shibata. He pierces Lui’s tongue, and she
mentions that she also wants to get a tattoo. While Ama is browsing the goods
in the shop, Shiba-san and Lui chat and each reveals a predilection for
S&M. Lui returns to Desire unaccompanied by Ama, and Shiba-san and Lui start
a warped kind of relationship. Ama knows nothing of Lui’s penchant for sadism,
and Shiba-san is the type of masochist that can satisfy her.
This book was a really quick read. It is dark, gritty,
twisted, disturbing…and I couldn’t put it down. I enjoy flawed characters, and
these ones are seriously messed up. I am a fan of Japanese literature, and I
plan to read more of Kanehara’s work.
Although I really enjoyed this book, I would add a warning that this is the type of book that is unsettling and certainly not intended for
everyone.
MY RATING:
4 stars!! It was really good!
This book qualifies as:
#41 for my 2013 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge
#41 for my 2013 Read-a-Latte Challenge
#17 for my 2013 Let Me Count The Ways Reading Challenge: Book Version
Bonus #6 for my 2013 Where Are You Reading? Challenge
Book #1 of Category #2 for my 2013 Global Reading Challenge
#20 for my 2013 Quick Fix Challenge
#33 for my 2013 Women Challenge
#22 for my New Authors Challenge 2013
#22 for my 2013 Reading Challenge: First-Reads
#1 for my Library Reads Challenge 2013
#6 for my Just For Fun Reading Challenge 2013
#8 for my 2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge
#1 for my 2013 Translation Challenge
#1 for my 2013 Books in Translation Reading Challenge
#10 for my 2013 Award Winning Books Reading Challenge
#19 for my What An Animal Reading Challenge VI
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It sounds disturbing! I've really enjoyed the translated fiction I've read, but this one might be a little too out there for me.
ReplyDeleteOh, boy...then you better not read Hotel Isis. That one is way more twisted and disturbing than this one was! I'm glad you've enjoyed the translated fiction you've read, and I'll have to take a peek at your list for some recommendations :)
DeleteOoooh, this is the second review of it that I've read. I do like Japanese fiction, but this sounds really dark.
ReplyDelete