Butter

by Asako Yuzuki ★★☆☆☆

Rika is a journalist in Tokyo, relegated to behind-the-scenes jobs at the pop culture publication in which she works. She's mostly single—she has a "boyfriend", but their relationship is surface-level at best. For all intents and purposes, she lives a solitary life in her small studio apartment, eating bad prepared foods from convenience stores.

Her life starts to take a different direction when she manages to gain an audience with Manako Kajii. Kajii is currently serving a life sentence for being a suspected serial killer, allegedly having lured wealthy men with her cooking before murdering them. She is middle-aged and overweight, and she refuses to apologize for her appetite or her body, which makes her a sensation in Japan. She's been notoriously reticent and refuses to speak to the press, but when Rika writes her a letter inquiring about one of her recipes, she discovers it's the key to unlock access to the famed convicted killer.

Kajii has no shortage of confidence, and she readily shares some of her opinions with Rika once they begin meeting. She seems acutely attuned to the machinations of the world in which she lives, but leverages that knowledge to manipulate the world to her bidding. "You have to understand that women can never hope to rival men's power. That's nothing to be ashamed of. When you acknowledge the differences between the sexes, when you accept men for how they are and work to support and please them, a future of freedom and abundance awaits you."

Kajii also has a bit of a Hannibal Lecter vibe, not in a physically intimidating way, but in her ability to psychologically manipulate Rika. She has what Rika most desires—information that will help propel Rika's career—and so she starts to dangle that carrot in exchange for Rika completing tasks that allow Kajii to live vicariously through here. She sends Rika on specific food-related missions and has her report back, in her own words, what her experience of eating the given item was like. In one instance, she instructs Rika to have sex with her boyfriend, and then immediately seek out a specific ramen dish from a restaurant in the city. "If you can tell me with accuracy how the salt butter ramen tastes, I'll think about granting you an exclusive interview."

As Rika increasingly becomes manipulated by Kajii, she becomes more and more obsessed with mimicking Kajii's life and following in her footsteps, and one can't help but wonder if she too is going to become a serial killer. While the plot roughly follows that outline, the plot is mostly a vehicle for social commentary. It's chock full of a variety of topics, from women's bodies to the fetishization of the schoolgirl image to differing societal expectations for men and women. It's blunt and unnuanced in much of the discussion, which could be partially attributed to the translation, but as a friend said, it's a "great book club book" because of the mountain of discussable material.

But at the same time, it's really fucking weird. There were several WTF moments for me. At one point Kajii says, "When I grow fatigued by the food they serve here in prison...I gently touch and squeeze myself. My upper arms are particularly cool and soft. When I stick out my tongue and lick them, I can taste their sweetness." Later, in an even weirder body-tasting moment, Rika one-ups her. "As Rika went on caressing the scab, a chunk of it fell off. Holding the broken-off piece between her fingers, Rika looked at it, then moved it up to her mouth and licked it."

It all just didn't work for me. Lest you be misled by portions of the plot, this is not a serial killer murder mystery. While Rika does attempt to learn more about Kajii's life, the serial killer angle is really just a vehicle for author Asako Yuzuki to delve into the societal topics she pounds on throughout the novel. The result is a book that is more character study plus societal commentary than anything else. While we do get a good amount of character evolution, it just never came together for me. It drags on at over 450 pages, and had I not felt obligated to finish it for my book club, it would have certainly been a DNF. This is not one that I'd recommend.