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Aug. 10th, 2004 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
insanenekoI haven't updated this in ages. :P I got two boxes from Japan on one day several weeks ago...and time passed before I knew it. Well, work was also the evil time and energy sucking hole of doom, but that's over now (the project I was working on--not work). (My friend is raving about a show called Zim that is really really cute. Now I vaguely want to see it.) Got several books by...*looks up*...Rieko Yoshihara, including "Ai no Kusabi." One is a sequel to a fun school comedy that I enjoyed, even though it was very much a continuation that doesn't conclude. *sigh* Thank you for making me want the next one. The other four books, two of "Ai no Kusabi" and two of "Katsuai" were okay. "Ai no Kusabi" had a lot of philosophical/political/whatever discussions, and it didn't feel like she was spending much time on the characters. Well, that was my impression upon skimming it really fast. :P I read "Katsuai" more closely. This one was about step-brothers with a screwed up relationship. It has similar themes to many of her other works, but I wasn't as drawn in by the characters in this one. I have come to realize that Rieko Yoshiwara always has a beautiful--and I mean drop dead gorgeous-guy who has a very...strong, unyielding, forceful, and powerful personality. In every one I've read, which is four different series, for a total of eight books. Not a bad thing, but she's got to distinguish the guys a bit more. *shrug*
The book that blew me away was "Owari no nai love song" by...er...Kaoru Kurimoto. It starts off with "Futaba, spread your legs more." Guess what's happening? Yup, a sex scene. Futaba, the main character and narrator, basically suffers throughout the entire book. In the first sex scene, Futaba alternates by telling the reader what is happening physically and then retreating into his own thoughts. He says all he has to do is every so often make noises like a woman in a porn video and the guy will get excited and finish quicker. Futaba's main thoughts and wishes during sex is when it'll be over. He wonders how any guy can ever find it pleasurable. His problem was he was first raped, then forced into a sexual relationship with a gang leader. As none of this is consensual and he isn't gay by nature, it is just something to be endured for him. His problems only become worse when said gang leader gets the entire gang into trouble (by a killing and some maimings...) and lands a bunch of the gang people, including Futaba, into juvenile hall. Futaba gets sent to a different facility from the others, but that only means there are NEW people to use him. But he's not doing too bad, even if he has to do everyone. At least they don't treat him like trash, like his classmates at school. (One sad comment that is in many ways true that Futaba makes is, why is it the more correct a person thinks they are the crueler and more inhuman they can be. At school they ostracized him and always called him fairy and to stay away or else he'll give them AIDS, etc. because he was the "girlfriend" of the gang leader guy) A new guy comes to the facility who becomes the boss of the inmates very very quickly. Well, Futaba and new guy...er...I'm not sure how to read his name, if it's Ryuuichi or Katsuhito, so I'll call him Ryuuichi...embark on a very very brutal and horrible relationship. Basically Ryuuichi fucks Futaba hard all the time. Futaba is just plain scared of the guy, and endures as best as he can. Ryuuichi's motivations and thoughts are a complete mystery, but he treats Futaba really, really badly. You get clues that there is something else at work when Futaba speaks to other inmates (this happens very infrequently as Ryuuichi is very...er...possessive?), but the author chooses to keep things up in the air to the end of the first book.
The book's premise is something that can be done oh-so-badly and probably has been by many fanfic writers and original writers alike, but what really grabbed me and makes me want to read more is Futaba's voice. He is a mix of stubbornness and resignation, and of pride and an uncaring attitude. He doesn't angst very much, doesn't get to whining or being very victimized. He only gets that way if things are really bad and he's just begging for an end--and that's basically an unconscious thing. He mostly wants to be left alone, by everyone around him and by fate. He thinks of himself as a very ordinary person, and doesn't understand why life and these people are bothering with him. The only subject that gets him to be excited is the honor student in his class, whom he was secretly in love with. It's kind of cute, how he curses that he had fallen in love with this boy, and he rages that yes, he's all out queer and all that for being in love with a guy. Even though, when he thinks about it, he doesn't want to have sex. He fantasizes about kissing, but not sex. I suppose it must be because sex is for him humiliation and subjugation and pain. He is at times angry and envious and raging at this honor student, for being perfect and having everything he doesn't, but then at other times holds onto his image as a small light of hope in his dark and grim world. He wonders if he is in love with the person or with what he represents. The honor student, Yuusuke, is a guy who wants to help the world when he grows up. He is drawn by Futaba's plight, and is dismayed when he couldn't "save" Futaba from the gang leader and then from being sent to juvenile hall. He is upset by how powerless he is. But he is determined to be Futaba's friend and support him as he can. He conscientiously writes to Futaba and comes to see him on weekends. But Futaba refuses to see him. He is filled with a resentment that this goody two-shoes doesn't know half of how hellish the world can be, and also a feeling of...I don't know if it's shame or what. Perhaps just a sense that their worlds are different.
Erk, this is turning out to be very long. In any case a very well written novel. Now I am compelled to buy the rest of the series. I thought it was four books long, but I come to realize that there are EIGHT books, and one extra book. *sigh* I think I will be making another big amazon japan order soon. For those books and the rest of the Fujimi symphony books...Then I'll again drop off the net for some offline mega-reading (but hopefully not working) action. The story on this page about glory holes is hilarious. The oblivious have no fear.
The book that blew me away was "Owari no nai love song" by...er...Kaoru Kurimoto. It starts off with "Futaba, spread your legs more." Guess what's happening? Yup, a sex scene. Futaba, the main character and narrator, basically suffers throughout the entire book. In the first sex scene, Futaba alternates by telling the reader what is happening physically and then retreating into his own thoughts. He says all he has to do is every so often make noises like a woman in a porn video and the guy will get excited and finish quicker. Futaba's main thoughts and wishes during sex is when it'll be over. He wonders how any guy can ever find it pleasurable. His problem was he was first raped, then forced into a sexual relationship with a gang leader. As none of this is consensual and he isn't gay by nature, it is just something to be endured for him. His problems only become worse when said gang leader gets the entire gang into trouble (by a killing and some maimings...) and lands a bunch of the gang people, including Futaba, into juvenile hall. Futaba gets sent to a different facility from the others, but that only means there are NEW people to use him. But he's not doing too bad, even if he has to do everyone. At least they don't treat him like trash, like his classmates at school. (One sad comment that is in many ways true that Futaba makes is, why is it the more correct a person thinks they are the crueler and more inhuman they can be. At school they ostracized him and always called him fairy and to stay away or else he'll give them AIDS, etc. because he was the "girlfriend" of the gang leader guy) A new guy comes to the facility who becomes the boss of the inmates very very quickly. Well, Futaba and new guy...er...I'm not sure how to read his name, if it's Ryuuichi or Katsuhito, so I'll call him Ryuuichi...embark on a very very brutal and horrible relationship. Basically Ryuuichi fucks Futaba hard all the time. Futaba is just plain scared of the guy, and endures as best as he can. Ryuuichi's motivations and thoughts are a complete mystery, but he treats Futaba really, really badly. You get clues that there is something else at work when Futaba speaks to other inmates (this happens very infrequently as Ryuuichi is very...er...possessive?), but the author chooses to keep things up in the air to the end of the first book.
The book's premise is something that can be done oh-so-badly and probably has been by many fanfic writers and original writers alike, but what really grabbed me and makes me want to read more is Futaba's voice. He is a mix of stubbornness and resignation, and of pride and an uncaring attitude. He doesn't angst very much, doesn't get to whining or being very victimized. He only gets that way if things are really bad and he's just begging for an end--and that's basically an unconscious thing. He mostly wants to be left alone, by everyone around him and by fate. He thinks of himself as a very ordinary person, and doesn't understand why life and these people are bothering with him. The only subject that gets him to be excited is the honor student in his class, whom he was secretly in love with. It's kind of cute, how he curses that he had fallen in love with this boy, and he rages that yes, he's all out queer and all that for being in love with a guy. Even though, when he thinks about it, he doesn't want to have sex. He fantasizes about kissing, but not sex. I suppose it must be because sex is for him humiliation and subjugation and pain. He is at times angry and envious and raging at this honor student, for being perfect and having everything he doesn't, but then at other times holds onto his image as a small light of hope in his dark and grim world. He wonders if he is in love with the person or with what he represents. The honor student, Yuusuke, is a guy who wants to help the world when he grows up. He is drawn by Futaba's plight, and is dismayed when he couldn't "save" Futaba from the gang leader and then from being sent to juvenile hall. He is upset by how powerless he is. But he is determined to be Futaba's friend and support him as he can. He conscientiously writes to Futaba and comes to see him on weekends. But Futaba refuses to see him. He is filled with a resentment that this goody two-shoes doesn't know half of how hellish the world can be, and also a feeling of...I don't know if it's shame or what. Perhaps just a sense that their worlds are different.
Erk, this is turning out to be very long. In any case a very well written novel. Now I am compelled to buy the rest of the series. I thought it was four books long, but I come to realize that there are EIGHT books, and one extra book. *sigh* I think I will be making another big amazon japan order soon. For those books and the rest of the Fujimi symphony books...Then I'll again drop off the net for some offline mega-reading (but hopefully not working) action. The story on this page about glory holes is hilarious. The oblivious have no fear.
