The novel has numerous merits however. It has been translated into many languages. Firstly, it portrays the vulnerability of girls or females despite modernity and changing times. Females in this story are subject to injustices in all facets living, driving them towards a path of self destruction as a means of gaining power over their lives.
Another big theme of this novel is the differing perspectives that people have or the stories they write about their life. The book is divided into several parts narrated by different people that left you wondering who the protagonists or antagonists are at the end of the book. Suspension of disbelief is a disservice or rather useless when reading this book, which is a testament of the author's ingenuity in driving home a point. There are facts and there are stories that we tell ourselves. The book will even make you question the definition of reality. Clarity could be deceiving, and at times people could be really blind about themselves or those that they love. It made me wonder about our relationships with people around us, whether we have taken them for granted and the need for us to always find a way to connect and relate to one another. It is especially painful for me, as someone who has five sisters, to learn about the relationship between the unnamed narrator and her sister Yuriko.
I have read somewhere that the author maintained that this novel is a crime novel. It is and so much more, and much darker. As someone who could be greatly affected by things she reads, I would not recommend this if you're not in the best of moods.
