Reviews

Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women by Cathy Layne

mrswythe89's review

Go to review page

4.0

Thought these were very good. The only stories I didn't feel worked so well were the one with the taxi driver (Shungiku Uchida's 'My Son's Lips') and the one from the point of view of the Desire of a woman who is in unrequited love with some dude in her office ('Fiesta' by Amy Yamada). Desire hangs out with Obsession and quarrels with Reason, that sort of thing.

The others were good, though. Straightforward (or not, but interestingly so), slangy and unsentimental. I used to think my bouncing off Haruki Murakami was 'cos I couldn't really get down with literature in translation -- at least modern literature -- but now I think it's just that I don't like Haruki Murakami.

midorigawa's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

clairelorraine's review

Go to review page

4.0

This book was so damn...edgy. Why's Japan have to be so cool? It annoys me.

curiousreader's review

Go to review page

2.0

Overall, the stories were "alright". Some I liked better than others (Inside; Her Room), some I liked less (Fiesta, The Unfertilized Egg). The enjoyment was so-so, but my problem lies with the actual collection as a whole, especially the aims that it has and how those aims seems to fall flat for the most part. I didn't think it was diverse enough to be a depiction of "Japanese women by Japanese women".
More...