I'm very excited (for some reason... not sure exactly what that reason is) to see Hitomi Kanehara at MWF this thursday. I guess the chance to see, in person, authors that I enjoy reading is quite rare - most of them having died some time ago, or residing inter-australianly. I'm sure this experience will rival the reply letter from Kurt Vonnegut.
Kanehara is published by Vintage, and as a result her books look somewhat similar to Murakami - which I'll admit is what intrigued me in the first place. I was in a large bookstore in Hong Kong with my Italian colleague, Luigi, and seeing Autofiction I began to read the first few pages. Knowing nothing about it, I could not tell whether I would like it or not, and I didn't buy it until some months after I came home.
I thought it was beautiful.
We follow Rin backward, from 23 to 15, hearing the story each time of a boy misunderstanding, and then mistreating her. Rin is vulnerable, hotheaded, but she also has a firm sense of when she has been betrayed, and what she deserves from love and life.
In some cases, the boys seem as if they weren't ready for Rin's assertiveness and demanding nature. One particular scene sees Rin realise that her boy has lied to her about where he is. He isn't cheating on her, but he wants time away from her and he's perhaps afraid of how she would react for his desire to go out without her. Kana's thoughts turn inward, focusing on her body, her cleavage, breasts, and how these can be used to protect the self and heart that has just been betrayed.
Rin is the sort of girl that can be dismissed as unstable, adulterous - even a psycho, but she's really just someone who has been continually hurt by those in which she had so much faith. She experiences tragedy after tragedy, because she is ready to love and trust people but they can only ever see her as a girlish face amongst a million others that is seen devoid of intention and agency.
Snakes and Earrings - is a little more straightforward, less psychological, and certainly more disturbing. The protagonist, again, is a girl left to rely on undesireable males to get along in the world. This is the debut novel that brought Hitomi Kanehara so much acclaim - it is written simply, but with deliberate tone that leaves the reader in the belly of tattoo and piercing culture, amongst the sadomasochists and punk contradictions. Again, protection is sought in this world, and it comes in the form of a full-back tattoo of a Kirin (which I now know is a mythical animal and not just a beer).
here is some footage of the movie - it is good that the movie was made in japanese with japanese actors, however there is the consequence that there is no version with english subtitles available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BStREUuDbc
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