A review by jaina8851
Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda

funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I enjoyed this book but I wish I could have done a buddy read with a Japanese person so that I could understand all of the references! The summaries of the original myths at the end of the book were illuminating, but I still felt like a lot of the individual stories went a bit over my head, like I was missing a cultural anchor that would have made the story even more enjoyable. I could see how *some* of the stories related to each other, recognizing character names or descriptions from previous stories, but some of them felt stand-alone to me, and I don't know if that's because I was missing something or if it was because indeed they were stand-alone. I'm also not entirely sure what the high level arc was meant to be, if there was one. 

All of that said though, I really loved the whimsical writing style. There were many moments where I genuinely laughed out loud, and I appreciated the empowering feminist take in these stories. Coincidentally, while I was reading this, a friend recommended Revenge by Yōko Ogawa to me, which seems like a similar structure with interconnected short stories, and so I'm interested to explore more Japanese fiction and maybe revisit this book someday when I have better understanding of some of the stories it is based on.