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Product Description
Review
'... intimately drawn: Tokyo's seediest districts, disturbed inhabitants and grisly goings-on are brought to life with enlivening force'
-- Metro
-- Metro
Review
`Kirino creates a fictional universe in which the normal rules of engagement no longer apply'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Real World is a slap in the face, sending the reader back to his or her teenage years when being anti-social was the norm, when adults looked like strange, absurd creatures and no one, not even your friends, could understand you. The novel begins with Toshiko, a girl whose next door neighbor kills his mother for seemingly no reason, and whose bike and cellphone are stolen by this same killer. What begins then is a strange relationship between the killer, Worm, Toshiko and her three best friends. There's Kirarin, cute and bubbly but with a secret life no one knows. Yuzan, grieving her dead mother and trying to come to terms with her sexuality, and Terauchi, the smart, philosophical one. In an attempt to help shelter Worm from the police, they are thrust into a limelight that threatens to expose them to each other and to the world at large. It's not an easy read, but then Natsuo Kirino has made a name for herself by writing difficult narratives and complex, sometimes un-likable characters. Real World is no exception to the rule.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like many others, I admired Grotesque and Out. In particular I loved the way in which Kirino was able to combine both the day to day realities of her characters' lives with the violent world with which they became entangled. In Real World a group of female protagonists are again caught up in a violent murder. The difference is that these women are 16 year old high school students and the murderer is a neighbour who has killed his own mother. Kirino again explains the action from the perspective of her five main characters, but the effect is not as satisfying as it is in Grotesque.
I feel that the characters are not sufficiently differentiated; in spite of superficial differences, they all seem to share a common view of the world and the change of narrators seems to slow down the action.
Having said that the ending is intriguing, the shift in focus really works to show how different people view the same event and some of the atmospheric writing is detailed and absorbing.
I feel that the characters are not sufficiently differentiated; in spite of superficial differences, they all seem to share a common view of the world and the change of narrators seems to slow down the action.
Having said that the ending is intriguing, the shift in focus really works to show how different people view the same event and some of the atmospheric writing is detailed and absorbing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have given up on this novel - something that I rarely do. 'Out' was marvellous, the second book whose name I forget, took a great deal of ploughing through. I had high hopes for 'Real World', but once again the characters are so unsympathetic and contrived that I have no interest in what happens to them. Whilst some would consider this the work of genius, I find it adolescent and shallow, and will need to be desperate for reading material before I pick this novel up to finish it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
hmmm.....
I seem to have bought an ex Kent library book ¡V oh well! It has a nice plastic cover so it doesn¡¦t get wet when I read in the bath. Read more
Published 16 months ago by acasia
Real World is a real shame
Having read "Out" some years ago I was expecting a lot from this book, but Real World is nowhere near the book it had the potential to be. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by R. Murray
Private Thoughts, Public Faces
Although Toshi Yamanaka is still officially on her summer holidays, she's isn't having the most enjoyable break - in an attempt to get the best grades possible, she's having to... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2009 by Craobh Rua
Real world....More like a real Japanese world
Natsuo Kirino's 3rd installement is as I expected, very moving and a brief character and psychological study, this time, into the minds of the little japanese kids. Read more
Published on 5 Jun 2009 by Freddy
dip your toe in a different world
Having read "Out" I'd try any of Natsuo Kirino's books. Personally, I couldn't get through "Grotesque", but "Real World" is excellent. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2009 by Patricia Waddy
Not quite as good as kirinos other translations
I absolutely loved Out and Grotesque and although Real World captures many of the Japanese dark thriller style of the other 2 books it doesnt quite grip the imagination as much as... Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2009 by Sally Wilton
A measurement of progress...
I was a huge fan of Kirino's previous release Grotesque - the best book of 2007 by some distance. So I eagerly awaited the next novel. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2008 by bloodsimple
lost in translation
Really like the original japanese book but be warned it loses alot of impact thanks to a medicore translation.
As the offical amazon review says - "Exasperating"
As the offical amazon review says - "Exasperating"
Published on 25 Sep 2008 by J. Freeman
excellent
I am a fan of Natsuo Kirino. I think writing a short story with so much going on (with the characters' complex state of mind (teenagers),a murder, etc.. Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2008 by Ms. K. Ranjanoro
Very Real and very dark
Have loved all N.Kirino's novels so far, and this one is no exception.
It could be described as dark and desturbing, however I think it really gets into the mind of the main... Read more
It could be described as dark and desturbing, however I think it really gets into the mind of the main... Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2008 by J. R. Daniell
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