Piercing

Judging by the title, you could never guess what this book is about, at least I couldn't. I didn't have the slightest idea, which made for a really awkward airport read (I had to finish it at home...). I don't know what I expected really, but what I got was a really pulpy and exciting short book, and if you can handle violence (of all sorts) I'd say it's worth a read. Usually I save my recommendations for the end, but I had to say it right away this time. I even recommend going in blind like I did so if you're interested, don't read the rest of the review. The book is short enough that if you don't really like it, it won't feel like a waste of time if you drop it mid way lmao.

The book starts of with a man (Masayuki) looking at his newborn baby and fantasizing of killing it with an ice pick - for his whole life he'd randomly get triggered into these moments of violent cravings due to his history of being heavily abused, and now the feeling is back again. He comes to the conclusion that the only way to get rid of it is to actually kill someone (due to past experiences), so he comes up with an intricate plan of killing a prostitute. The prostitute he's meaning to kill is the second main character, and we get to see the story play out from both of their perspectives, which is what made this such a great book imo. She, much like the man, also has a history of being abused, and she also has her own version of this crazed state although it's expressed differently. The story is incredibly intense, and it's the first time I felt so on edge when reading a book since I first read Crime and Punishment in high school, specifically the part when Raskolnikov devises and carries out the murder. There's just something about this perspective that I love to read about... Anyway, despite dealing with such a serious matter, the book is honestly pretty funny/ironic as well due to the big misunderstanding between the main characters, I enjoyed the dark humor. The whole process of manic Masayuki deciding on how to kill and how to go about it was also strangely ridiculous in the best way.

This book is also a great window into seeing (very extreme of course) examples of how heavy abuse in childhood affects men and women, the externalizing vs internalizing, wanting to hurt others and self sabotaging... Manifestations of physical vs sexual abuse and so on. And the fact that we get both perspectives is really nice too, since it doesn't reduce Chiaki to just a prostitute that's going to be killed. I really enjoyed Chiaki as a character, a bdsm prostitute that's very neat and tidy to the point of seeming lifeless, very practical and simple, but also incredibly horrible in her relationships with men. The way she used piercings to ground herself etc. is also a neat portrayal of the more extreme piercing culture such as body suspension that I've had some run ins with in the past, I think it was described pretty accurately and the way the book ends is also a great way to tie all of that together.

Usually at this point in my review I tend to look at what other people have said about the book, to see if I should take any critiques into account, and I must say I'm confused by the amount of people that didn't like the perspective shifting!! I think it worked just fine and made this all the more intense and fun.

If I had one complaint, it would be the unnecessary cheating. I can handle sexual abuse and gore, but unnecessary cheating in media gets on my nerves like you wouldn't believe. I just feel like most of the times it's just that, unnecessary. Maybe you could rationalize it by connecting that manic psycho state with something sexual for Masayuki, or the fact that cheating on your wife is seen as a fun pastime any Japanese man should indulge in, I just don't like it. Especially when we're told this whole story of Masayuki and Yuko, his wife. It's not like I expect an abused and extremely damaged man not to cheat on his wife but in the context of this story I feel like it was truly something that could have been left out.