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In the opening chapter of this brief novel by Akira Otani, an out lesbian, we get an immediate indication of the world we are about to enter. A car carrying an apparently unconscious woman who has been badly injured heads toward a tranquil Tokyo neighbourhood and the grounds of an impressive mansion. The car parks and the woman is dumped on the ground. A number of men surround her and try to get her to her feet. Instead, she suddenly springs up and succeeds in tossing one of her captors halfway across the yard. For the moment she is briefly in command, able to land blows where they will do the most damage to her attackers. Only when an outsized Doberman charges in and knocks her to the ground is she taken out.
What is going on here? The woman is twenty-two-year old Yoriko Shindo and she has been kidnapped by a pack of gang members. It is 1979, a time when the yazukas were still flourishing. The boss of the gang, Genzo Naiki, is obsessed with maintaining his daughter's pristine innocence until she marries the man he has selected for her, an event that will take place as soon as she finishes school. A bodyguard is required and no man is fully trustworthy. Presumably there are no professional females to fill the role, so the gang simply grabs one by force.
It is unclear how they came to choose Shindo, but she has been in training for the job since childhood. Raised by her grandparents, she absorbed her grandma's tales of Baba Yaga, the unpredictable figure of Slavic folklore who lives in the forest in a house perched on chicken legs. From her grandpa she received lessons in the martial arts of which he had a mastery. He was far from a gentle teacher and she found that:
"in the heat of it, she could let go of everything. Winning was great, but she also found it thrilling to be up against an overwhelming force. Shindo even liked the pain and bitterness that came with it. They stimulated her. Way more fun than manga, pop music or clothes. A day came when she realized that violence was her only interest."
All the same, she does not go looking for trouble, but when it finds her, she enjoys the challenge.
On the face of it, Shoko, Genzo Naiki's daughter, would seem to be Shindo's polar opposite. Four years younger than her bodyguard, she appears much younger than that. She dresses oddly, clad in dresses long out of style and heavy socks that hide her legs. She does not seem to have a thought of her own, parroting her father's views on the proper behaviour of any daughter of his. Yet when Shindo is about to be raped by several of the gang, it is Shoko who saves her, fearlessly wielding her father's authority. Although Shindo has been hired to protect a weak young woman, it would appear that Shoko is tough as they come. Neither of them can squeeze herself into the traditional roles they were supposed to play and it turns they will never will.
This is more a novella than a full novel, but it covers the next forty years of the two women's life together, though hardly in detail. It is a life spent on the run and one that culminates in a great deal of graphic gore. Readers should be aware that there are pages in this book that bear repellent descriptions of the violence that occurs.
The book is being prominently promoted as a "queer thriller," but though the two main figures are certainly queer in that both reject the gender stereotypes that would limit their freedom, there is no suggestion that they had a sexual life in the forty years they live together nor is there any hint that they didn't. They present themselves as husband and wife to avoid gossip but that's as far as it goes. Their issue is with male authority and they are determined to have the same control over their own lives as men have over theirs. What they do in the privacy of the bedroom is their own business.
Sam Bett, the translator, is a winner of several awards and his text is fluently readable. But he has chosen to leave a scattering of words untranslated, though usually in a context which makes them at least comprehensible. It's an interesting approach and one that avoids possibly tedious explanations. Additionally, it may enrich the reader's understanding of the larger culture in which the novel has its roots.
Because of the graphic nature of the violence, it's hard for me wholeheartedly to recommend the book, but it is extremely interesting and certainly very unlike any thriller you may have read before. It decidedly has broadened my view of the genre.
§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal. She's been editing RTE since 2008.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, July 2024
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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