REAL WORLD by Natsuo Kirino Review by M.G. Wood

You will have already read deep into Natsuo Kirino’s potent new novel REAL WORLD when you meet Terauchi. As one of four young women on the eve of their adult lives, as grown-ups, with responsibilities and burdens, Terauchi is the more intellectual and philosophical of the four, but no more mature, or prepared for the awesome changes that will engulf their final Summer together.

There really are things that are irreparable.

REAL WORLD is written in a 1st person narrative, with each of the main characters having their own chapter (or two) in which to tell their story.

In Terauchi’s chapter, Chapter 6, she expounds upon her constant desire to tell people this, There really are things that are irreparable. She explains in a somewhat muddled, but no less compelling manner as to what this means, and why she sometimes finds herself so consumed by the thought, and unable to hold it in any longer, she just blurts it out for no good reason.

Something that's really irreparable is more like this: a horribly frightening feeling that keeps building up inside until your heart is devoured. People who carry around the burden of something that can't be undone will one day be destroyed.

There really are things that are irreparable, at first reading will strike many as an interesting diversion away from the more compelling aspects of the story, namely matricide. But, ultimately Terauchi’s philosophizing will come to be a very poignant mantra, and coda.

Terauchi states that she could never just blurt out such a thing to Yuzan or Kirarin. In a brilliant passage, Terauchi describes the vacant nature of her two less than intellectually curious friends.

It’d be like a lighthouse, where the spotlight rotates and, for an instant, illuminates something. But, once the light moves on, everything melts back into the dark.

But, Toshi is different. Of Terauchi’s three school mates, Toshi is the one she most identifies with, and confides in.

And Toshi is the one that opens REAL WORLD.

Author Natsuo Kirino

Toshi is up in the early morning hours, getting ready for Cram-School (college prep), when the Smog Siren begins to wail, disrupting what used to be a laid-back serene suburban neighborhood in Tokyo. The siren has been a constant nuisance to Toshi ever since Summer vacation began. But, even the loud echo of the Smog Siren can’t drown out the loud crashing sound of glass shattering. Toshi stops penciling her eyebrows long enough to ponder whether her house is being burglarized or if her rambunctious neighbors are fighting again.

And then a second crash, louder than the first. Toshi begins to shake at the prospect of violence. But, just then her cell phone rattles and buzzes. Toshi picks up to the sound of Terauchi’s calming voice. Toshi soon becomes lost in conversation, completely forgetting about the noise.

She is soon straddling her bike, exiting her driveway, on her way to Cram School, when she sees Worm coming out of his house next door. She’s relieved, certain now the noise must have come from Worm’s house.

Worm is a character that is never fully fleshed out. But, it seems his name says it all. Because the noise Toshi heard, was the sound of Worm beating his mother to death with a baseball bat.

Once we are thrust into Worm’s diseased mind, we are treated to an absolutely gorgeous word picture delivered by “Worm”. As he describes viewing a Japanese soldier being beaten to death with a hammer on television, Worm speaks of being mesmerized by the fact that the soldier doesn’t seem to be in pain, as his head is being smashed, but rather sleepy. Worm sees this same succumbing face on his mother as she is bludgeoned to death.

This amazing imagery is carried over, after Worm's horrible act of violence is discovered, and Worm is on the run, riding his bike through the streets of Tokyo, past the loud buzzing, ringing and clanging of Pachinko arcades and Karaoke bars, his head dipping and his eyelids heavy, fighting the desire to sleep, as if the weight of his crime were smothering him like a massive black blanket.

We are soon given short thrift to the character of Yuzan. She is a lesbian and she struggles with her identity and her place in the world. And her piece of the story is interesting in it’s own way, especially her riveting story of being assaulted by a man in drag during a visit to forbidden places. But, Yuzan will seem oddly contrived within the existing framework, up until she plays a vital role at the very end of the story.

Kirarin is a party girl. Kirarin is the only sexually active member of the four girls. Kirarin likes to hook up with strange men on the internet. This dangerous courting of fate will eventually lead to Kirarin’s unlikely meeting with Worm; subsequent hook-up, and accessory to escape.

REAL WORLD is a hypnotic thriller that carries you dreamily along, carelessly dropping in and out of the minds of these five sympathetic and challenging characters. There’s an inescapable fatalism to the structure of the novel, as we are forced to sit with each character within the chapter, and as you near the end of the book, a gnawing anxiousness seeps in, as you begin to worry about whether this story will have a satisfying climax, and how will Ms. Natsuo do it. Will there be closure? Who will have the last word?

There is closure, and there is a very satisfying climax.

A perfect picture is painted of the hollow-feelings and angst that come with the knowledge that something has changed irreparably. Life will never be the same after this Summer.

Toshi and Yuzan end a conversation at the funeral of a friend. Knowing she’ll probably never see her again, Toshi clips a keychain onto Yuzan’s backpack as she walks away. The keychain holds the picture of the four girls all together at the beginning of Summer.

MGW

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