A review by fionag
Butter by Asako Yuzuki

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A read I was disappointed by. I agree with a lot of reviews I’ve seen that this book is a lot longer than it needs to be and could’ve been much sharper if a couple hundred pages were cut. I also think that the marketing of this book was perhaps misleading, as from the content on socials I assumed this would be the story of a journalist slowly siding with a killer and joining the dark side, a la Hannibal. It’s a shame because the first part of the book I enjoyed and then it fell off for me. Some discussions of sexism felt far too on the nose and I don’t think they were adding anything new. I didn’t like our main character and I thought she didn’t have any agency. The ‘twist’ at the end was so unsurprising and there’s a part in the middle that annoyed me and felt pointless. Also the body shaming is extreme and something I grew bored of, though if you were struggling with disordered thoughts I can imagine this would be really triggering. The narration on audio felt a bit strange as I struggled to get where a paragraph changed and it felt a bit rushed. Overall definitely not for me but the food descriptions were amazing and I really did find Kajii an intriguing character 
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