Innocent World

Rating:
Summary: neogeisha samurai-grrlz attack!
Review: <font face="book antiqua" size=2>a sexually graphic and yet surrealistically poetic study of a confidently unconventional young prostitute, set in an internalized landscape of post-modern japan. love hotels, cosplay, twisted technoshamans, and genetic experimentalism. through her narrative we have an arresting account of self-evolution, incising both self and social facades to peer at the pathologies and deviancies beneath; liberating, healing and humanizing.

i thoroughly enjoyed, but given the nature of the story, i feel it requires both the right mood and an open mind.

it's great to get into the mind of a contemporary female japanese author, this endearingly brazen ami sakurai in particular, complementing the rest of vertical inc.'s stock.

Rating:
Summary: short and sweet
Review: a little whack, but so much deeper and more intelligently written than other books of this ilk.

Rating:
Summary: A mature, immature book
Review: I guess I am the minority with my review. I thought this book was a yawn. Shock value aside (incest and rape, along with a shocking surprise at the end), it read like a high-schooler's angsty prose. I found myself skipping through much of the overly-descriptive thought, just to get to the point. I rolled my eyes several times through plot twists as they were just plain absurd.

The book is a quick read (I finished it in about an hour). I wish I had just taken it out at the library instead of spending $10 on something I can read in one sitting.

All in all, the material is meant for 'mature' readers, but the style is clearly not. A lot of reviewers say that the 'love' between the main character and her brother is just 'beautiful', but I failed to see the beauty in animalistic um.... stuff between siblings. In my opinion, this book is purely shock value with no substance, so if that is your thing, then go for it.

Rating:
Summary: Distortion LOVE
Review: That's wonderful!! This is the best translation Japanese novel. I have never met great translation like this before. I really appreciate this book.
The story is about distortion love, but it is very beautiful feeling and love. So good. I am touched this book.