First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

In a suburb on the outskirts of Tokyo, four teenage girls drift through a hot smoggy August and tedious summer school classes. There’s dependable Toshi, brainy Terauchi, Yuzan, grief-stricken and confused, and Kirarin, whose late nights and reckless behaviour remain a secret from those around her.

Then Toshi’s next-door neighbour is found brutally murdered and the girls suspect Worm, the neighbour’s son and a high-school misfit. But when he disappeared (having stolen Toshi’s bike and mobile) the four girls become irresistibly drawn into a treacherous vortex of brutality and seduction which rises from within themselves as well as the world around them.

It’s the end of the workweek—yay! I hope the week has been kind to everyone, although the previous week was quite hectic for me personally. I am still trying to resolve a lot of issues, but more keep floating to the surface. Still, I can’t believe how time flies! We are already in the seventh month of the year. Time takes its natural course. Nevertheless, I hope the first half of the year has been promising. As the year progresses, I hope everyone is given plenty of opportunities to grow and improve. With the weekend here, I hope everyone has a great one. It’s time to dress down and spend it either resting from the rigors of a demanding career, pursuing your passions, completing household chores, spending time with loved ones, or simply relaxing. It is going to be a damp weekend here in the Philippines. I sure hope that the super typhoon currently on track toward Taiwan weakens. I hope you’re all doing well—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Thankfully, after four months, I was able to conclude my venture into the works of European literature. I originally planned to stay there for two months, just enough time to complete all the works by European writers in my reading challenges. However, these books ultimately extended my literary adventure into a four-month journey. With my European literary adventure this year officially complete—the longest I have spent in European literary territory in a single year—I have commenced a new literary journey. With July being my birth month, I have decided to embark on a literary adventure into a literary territory that is closer to home: Asian literature. Apart from being part of the region, I have often dedicated July to the works of Japanese writers; Japanese literature is one of my favorite literary traditions in the world. I actually commenced this new literary journey with Mieko Kawakami’s latest translated novel, Sisters in Yellow.

I have actually run out of books by Japanese writers, at least those on my bookshelf. Still, there are a few waiting to be read, and there are others that I am looking forward to. I am quite excited by the news of Haruki Murakami’s latest novel. I am looking forward to its English translation, as it promises to offer a different dimension of Murakami’s prose. Anyway, my current read is Natsuo Kirino’s Real World. I have been wanting to explore Kirino’s oeuvre. Apparently, Natsuo Kirino is the pseudonym of Mariko Hashioka. I had always thought that Kirino was a male writer! Interestingly, her earlier works were romance novels. However, she struggled to earn a living writing romance novels because they were not particularly popular in Japan. In the early 1990s, she pivoted toward writing mystery novels, with a particular emphasis on exploring the psychological dimensions of crime.

This then takes me to Real World. Originally published in 2003 as リアルワールド (Riaru Wārudo), it is one of Kirino’s first works to be translated into English. The novel first introduces Toshi, the first of the four teenage high school girls at the heart of the story. She describes her neighbors, who moved in two years earlier. They are a family of three with a son who is close to her age. She refers to her neighbor’s son as Worm. One day, she sees Worm coming out of their house while she is preparing to go to cram school. Later, she discovers that her bicycle and phone are missing. A call from her friend Terauchi wakes her from her slumber. Apparently, Terauchi called Toshi’s phone, but a strange man answered. When Toshi’s mother comes home, she informs her daughter that their female neighbor has been murdered. The police suspect Worm of matricide. Toshi also suspects Worm of stealing her phone and bicycle. However, she never informs the police either about this or about seeing Worm leave the house.

The third member of the quartet is Yuzan. She lost her mother to cancer a couple of years earlier and has since been raised by her father and grandparents. She has also been feeling lonelier than ever, a fact she keeps from her friends. At home, she has to deal with her overbearing father and the lingering memories of her mother. She sees little prospect for her future, while her father constantly badgers her. Her deepest secret, however, is that she is a lesbian. She is also haunted by an experience from the previous summer—one that she is too shaken to tell anyone about. It is in her narrative that the term “real world” is first used. It has two layers of meaning. Her father constantly lectures her about living in the real world, which, to him, involves earning degrees and securing gainful employment. Yuzan, however, bitterly believes that she has already experienced the real world. For her, it is embodied in what happened the previous summer, a secret she refuses to reveal. At the most inopportune moment, she receives a call from Worm.

Worm officially takes over the novel’s perspective in the third chapter. He gets to tell his own story, narrating his life before his family moved in next door to Toshi. His mother had high expectations of him; after all, his father was a doctor. However, Worm was an isolated and low-achieving student. He felt invisible. He also recounts his growing resentment toward his mother, blaming his crime on her controlling and domineering behavior. This was exacerbated by the expectations he could never live up to. Kirarin completes the quartet of high school friends, although I have yet to read her perspective. The same is true for Terauchi. I am looking forward to seeing how their narratives unfold and how their stories intersect with Worm’s. Will Worm also make inroads into their lives? Will they become involved? How extensive will their involvement be?

With Worm telling his own story, the layer of mystery has already been peeled back. To be honest, the premise is quite discomfiting; apparently, it is inspired by a real crime committed in 1997 by a high school student using the alias “Sakakibara Seito.” But there seems to be more to the story than this dark tale. For one, Yuzan’s search for her identity gives the novel additional layers. On top of that, I am looking forward to seeing how Kirino unpacks the psychology behind Worm’s crime. As discomfiting as the story can be, the psychological complexities involved make it a compelling read. The novel is a fairly quick read, and I should be able to finish it over the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. How about you, fellow reader? What book or books are you taking with you this weekend? I certainly hope you enjoy them. For now, I hope everyone has a great and restful weekend!