A grim but compelling tale of tough Japanese women working in a sandwich factory; one of them strangles her errant husband, her colleagues help dispose of the corpse, and as a result they become entangled with the yakuza and also the local psychopath. The detail of the interactions between the badly paid women, their resentful families, the loan sharks, the exploitative employers, and the distant forces of law and order, are all depicted in visceral detail. The climax is particularly well constructed. A real tour de force.
From the Heart of Europe
Books, politics, languages and life
I like the Bombadil article – this is how I see the collapse of the EU playing out, with Roman Abramovich as the last man standing – “One bondholder to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”.
When the first Jackson film came out I said, “But what about Tom Bombadil?” Everyone else said, “Who?”