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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
slow-paced
a girl saw me reading this in public and told me she gave up on it, she's real for that
- this book has nothing to do with food and m*rder and everything to do with policing women's bodies
- MC mentions gaining soooooo much weight and people treating her differently bc of it and then mentions her heaviest being 59kg ...... right
- absolutely no need to be 450+ pages
- casual pedophilia mentioned ??
- and no you never find out if she actually did it
adventurous
emotional
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Slow and introspective, I enjoyed the journey but felt it was a little longer than needed. Loved all the food descriptions and the character’s musing on Japanese society and women’s place in it. Really interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had different expectations for this book to be honest. I thought it would have more suspense than it did. It was very discriptive about everything, but especially the food. So much so that I felt lost myltiple times where the story was.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy this book. The themes of misogony, gender roles and womens hapiness in marriage were very interesting and made me think about these themes even more.
I liked how Rika discovered more of herself and how she wanted to be while working with Kaji. It was nice to see her choosing herself and becoming more confident in herself.
The butter aspect came up a lot in this book. Even in more ways than I expected, which I thought was smart and a nice choice.
I liked Reiko more and more when the story progressed. I liked how we also got to have a few chapters through her POV. Love for her that she eventually choose to go to couples therapy and shed the sociatal expectations of how a marriage should be and do what works for them.
During the interactions between Kaji and Rika, I started to guess more and more what Kaji's motives were for hating women with such a passion. I guessed rifht, as it was loneliness at its core and she expressed that very gorely. I also was thinking maybe Kaji had some traits of autism and narcism. As Kaji was not able to have female friends and have regular interactions with other people. A lot of people thought of her as weird and odd. That would make a lot of sense why she had these diffulties. And her narcicism shone through when she felt like she was superior to men because they are babies in her eyes and to women because they have to accept to obey a man according to her.
And was there a secret wlw aspect between Rika and Reiko? Rika mentioned that a lot of girls had a crush on her during middle school, because there were no boys in school and she was the closest thing to it. But Reiko also had a crush on her in the past, but still was mentioning something along the lines like, if only you were a man. So I think that Reiko is at least bi because she still has those feelings towards Rika even if she didn't express them.
In the audiobook version this book is a lot more enjoyable than in the written version. I tried that first, but I got bored so fast. So I switched to the audiobook and that was a lot better.
Nevertheless, I did enjoy this book. The themes of misogony, gender roles and womens hapiness in marriage were very interesting and made me think about these themes even more.
I liked how Rika discovered more of herself and how she wanted to be while working with Kaji. It was nice to see her choosing herself and becoming more confident in herself.
The butter aspect came up a lot in this book. Even in more ways than I expected, which I thought was smart and a nice choice.
I liked Reiko more and more when the story progressed. I liked how we also got to have a few chapters through her POV. Love for her that she eventually choose to go to couples therapy and shed the sociatal expectations of how a marriage should be and do what works for them.
During the interactions between Kaji and Rika, I started to guess more and more what Kaji's motives were for hating women with such a passion. I guessed rifht, as it was loneliness at its core and she expressed that very gorely. I also was thinking maybe Kaji had some traits of autism and narcism. As Kaji was not able to have female friends and have regular interactions with other people. A lot of people thought of her as weird and odd. That would make a lot of sense why she had these diffulties. And her narcicism shone through when she felt like she was superior to men because they are babies in her eyes and to women because they have to accept to obey a man according to her.
And was there a secret wlw aspect between Rika and Reiko? Rika mentioned that a lot of girls had a crush on her during middle school, because there were no boys in school and she was the closest thing to it. But Reiko also had a crush on her in the past, but still was mentioning something along the lines like, if only you were a man. So I think that Reiko is at least bi because she still has those feelings towards Rika even if she didn't express them.
In the audiobook version this book is a lot more enjoyable than in the written version. I tried that first, but I got bored so fast. So I switched to the audiobook and that was a lot better.
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Butter isn’t just a dish, it’s a full three course meal! Although I feel like this book was too long, I enjoyed the meandering descriptions of the foods Rika encounters through the machinations of the creepiest killer(?) in Japan. The simple flavors of soy sauce, butter, and rice are just the first steps we take into a larger culinary world as a journalist explores her own relationships with food, gender, society, family, and friends. The first half of the book was a bit of a slog, but once I understood where Rika was being led by Kaji, I was hooked. Emotions being so intertwined with food was such an interesting concept for a novel, and I could feel Rika literally unraveling as she continued to chase an understanding about Kaji and herself that would never come. I loved Rika’s character development and how she handled her journeys through Japan, cooking school, and the trendiest restaurants in Tokyo. However, the real hero of this book is the smart and insightful analysis of the way women are treated in Japan and by modern society at large. Fatphobia, agism, and sexism are inherently losing battles. Women are conditioned to behave in certain ways to appease men, while real contentment lies in finding solace and understanding from female friendships. Although the author should have maybe trimmed some fat from this book, I still finished it feeling satisfied.
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes