Real World (Vintage International)

A fantastic read once again by this author! Somewhat heartbreaking but such an interesting read! Definitely would recommend

Natsuo Kirino's "Real World" is a Japanese coming-of-age story with sobering twists. She has structured her narrative as a relay race between the major players: each character takes her or his turn from the first-person perspective describing the ongoing action, discussing their thoughts and motivations, and revealing their not-so-pretty histories.The high school girls of "Real World", though markedly different individually, have a few things in common. They worry about school. They talk about relationships. They all think they are hiding something from each other when in fact their fears, flaws, and sexual practices are all too obvious to their peers. Above everything else, they loathe their parents.Therefore it is not surprising that, when a teenage boy outside their circle goes on the run after being accused of murdering his mother, their reaction is initially one of empathy and fascination rather than repulsion. Their decisions to help him cover his tracks, and subsequently protect each other, have ramifications that will last for the rest of their lives.The result is an engaging character study of Japanese teenagers facing the pressures of Japanese society - observing familial obligations, meeting cram school demands, avoiding perverts on the train - and suddenly being confronted with a situation none of them has the maturity to handle. Particularly interesting is Kirino's portrait of the teenage boy as the fugitive whose grip on reality unravels before our eyes.I have two objections to the novel. The first is one of authenticity: although externally the girls exhibited differences (one is smart, one is a lesbian, one is a slut, and so on), their internal monologues were painfully similar, so much so that I was constantly losing my suspension of disbelief. This gave rise to my second objection: I frequently wanted to yell, "You idiot!" to the particular narrator at various points of the novel. Dealing with teenagers, this might be expected, but the similarity between their voices, and hence the lack of individual 'reasoning' when it came to decision-making, made me frustrated with these female anti-heroes. Still, I remained attached to the book until the very end.I would recommend "Real World" specifically to those readers who have an interest in modern Japanese culture. Based on other sources, I think the environment Kirino describes is accurate, and the struggles faced by teenagers there realistic and reflected in her writing. As to whether she does justice to her characters, or if they are merely facets of herself projected into different situations, is a little harder to tell.

Real World begins from a rather extreme premise, an adolescent boy bashing his mother to death with a baseball bat. The writer's subsequent task is to make this interesting and somehow engaging through the medium of a series of interactions between the boy and, singly, with a group of girls who are friends, and who run across a range of ways to be female, the author's real interest. That's good in its own way, but the extremity of the set up defeats the author's best intentions.

A way far different story from one of her non-crime fiction novels, “The Goddess Chronicles” but they have the same vibe.“Real World” is a bit childish, nope, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it was too simple, what I meant to say is, because it was narrated by child-like minds cause the main characters were all high school students. They were too pure and naive that’s why they were easily get trapped in the dilemma of each of their own curiosity and point of view. But it was fun, the simplicity of the writing will truly put you in their world, The(ir) Real World. The way how Kirarin narrated her desperation on filling the darkness in her heart and her adventures with Worm delivered flawlessly as if I was there particularly on the part where they were walking on the roadsides with cars passing by, this was the time when things hit them with the reality that they cannot run forever. I can visualize their facial expressions clearly in my head, the sorrows, tiredness, and regrets from the burden that was put over their shoulders from trying to escape the Real World. And the most shocking part was the ending when everything was revealed. It hit differently. It was truly shocking and very emotional, the way how things ended especially to Terauchi. The letter she sent to Toshi gave chills in my heart that I kept reading it again and again and I don't know why. I felt bad for her, so bad that I wanted to jump on the story just to try to stop her. It's really sad. She’s too pure, all of them.

Real World is a story of four girls whose encounter with a boy gone astray transports them from typical high school girls into the adult world, with serious consequences. The point of view rotates between the five kids, leaving the adults on the outside at all times. Some violence is described graphically enough that I'm reluctant to recommend this book to my 14-yr-old.Action is exaggerated and compressed in time, and many past secrets are unveiled and faced. Despite the comic book pace of the action, the situations have the ring of authenticity. Unlike most books I see, the characters change through the book in ways interesting, appropriate, and permanently. The portrait of modern Japan, with cellphones and texting, adolescence pressure from school and tests, pervasive mass transit, and polite police added interest.The translation is good and clear but not great - I didn't get the feeling of character from each person's distinctive dialog - I expect the original Japanese is more lyric.I found the ending unusually satisfying and fresh.

De início eu estava achando este livro bem chato. A história estava me parecendo muito teen, com adolescentes reagindo a assassinatos como se fossem a coisa mais natural do mundo. Mas, no terço final do livro, comecei a gostar mais. Porque daí entendi melhor a história da Natsuo Kirino. Acho que ela quis dar aquela postura blasé que adolescente tem diante de todas as coisas, como se nada os afetassem, como se fossem donos da verdade. Porém, mais à frente do livro, os personagens percebem a realidade caindo sobre eles, começam a enxergar as coisas como realmente são (o famoso "caiu a ficha"). E precisam encarar as consequências catastróficas das suas atitudes.A parte final do livro me fez gostar de Real World um pouco mais, mas achei que demorou demais para pegar no tranco, e de modo geral, não é o melhor romance da escritora.

The book was in perfect conditions! The paper is super soft and pleasant to the touch, the pages are a bit thin but they're perfect nonetheless!

Muy buen libro

Great book, full of intrigue and suspense circling around the innocence of being a child. Very good book thoroughly enjoyed

A good read. This short book has about half a dozen long chapters, each from the point of view of a different character. It was refreshing to be able to get so deep into a particular character without having the whole novel in 1st person. Although the plot is fairly thin, it's far from run-of-the-mill and the great sense of place makes up for it. I really felt like I understood the parts of urban Japan that I was placed in as the reader, which is pretty important for a novel that likes to twist your idea of what one's personal reality is.Recommended.7/10David BrookesAuthor of 'Half Discovered Wings' and 'The Gun of Our Maker'