So blunt and direct that it frequently disguises its own subtleties ... No heavy read but skilfully light in tone, a quality Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda captures in her translation ... Breathtaking unsentimentality ... [Kirino] wittily and cleverly portrays the back-and-forth of indecision and unpreparedness of all parties ... Kirino somersaults her way to a suspenseful conclusion in a dazzling and troubling feminist page-turner.
Feels like such fresh air ... Rather than neatly aligning itself with any specific cause, it attempts to mirror the vagaries of reality ... As translated by Hofmann-Kuroda, Kirino’s prose is straight-talking and incisive; one would be hard-pressed to find a single frill in the author’s lean and mean sentences ... The brutal simplicity of her storytelling, which is not without humor, often leads to moments of revelation that sweep back the curtain on protean human nature and its countless, albeit funny, foibles ... Contradiction and hypocrisy, fickleness and impulsivity only add to the richness of Kirino’s memorable cast ... Other timeless themes, such as social class, capitalism and city versus country, are tackled with equal skill ... May be enjoyed as pure entertainment with the occasional slightly puerile sex joke thrown in. But it may be more effective as a reminder of the powerful moments in fiction when a mask comes off ... Kirino’s novel reveals the ugly, awkward, frequently embarrassing thoughts we’re too ashamed to say out loud, and the inner, anxious dialogue we often engage in with ourselves — all of which make for great reading.
Entertaining and thought-provoking ... Kirino builds tension with surprising twists as each of the three main characters contends with their shifting feelings about parenthood. This will keep readers glued to the page.
