Real World (Vintage International)

Real World is an amazing look inside the world of teenagers. The setting is Japan, with its cram schools and unique academic pressures, but the psychology of the kids is probably not that different from American kids of well-off parents. High school is full of cliques (bookworms, nerds, Barbie Girls, jocks, club-goers), and the kids feel like a different species from parents and teachers. This story focuses on four girls who form their own clique based on nothing more than their close friendship. Purely by chance they get involved in the plight of a high school boy who just killed his mother. What fascinated me was how little the girls trust the adult world, which they see as rotten and hypocritical. They can be more communicative with a teenaged murderer than with any adult. Naturally enough, the games they are playing with the fugitive boy murderer turn dangerous — but in unexpected ways. Contemporary Japanese novels have an edgy quality that is something of an acquired taste. There is nothing quite like them in Western fiction. Matsumoto Kirino writes a gripping story. I always enjoy her books. The way the narrative alternates between characters gives a sensitive and very realistic portrait of each teenager. The real world keeps shifting shape for these young people — and maybe a little for the reader...

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.

This is a very, very japanese girl talk and japanese world happening: japanese youth has a very difficult time between school and real life. This causes endless soul searching and distress for girls - on one side they try to conform to japanese society expectations and on the other hand they relate to occidental desires, female autonomy and so on. The book tires after the first 50 pages and the final is obvious. It's worth reading as a sociology light treatise.

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.

I enjoyed this one more than Out simply due to the fact that the characters were more likable (yes you read that correctly, the murderer is more likable than the protagonist of out) And this one had much more of a story than out as well and didn't devolve into fetishistic in the final act thankfully. I'd say read this one over Kirino's other work.

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!

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

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.

Natsuo Kirino is amazing and I have read all of her books. If she writes another one I will buy it. What I enjoy are these small naughty notions she makes when she analyses her characters and their psychology. The darkness we all hide inside kind of thing. I enjoyed this book and I liked the writing style but it could have been better. Maybe the character's motivations could have been outlined better and in general, although it had parts I loved, it is a 3-star book.

Unputdownable.A dramatic insight into a very shocking world.Loved it.