Natsuko Imamura is a Japanese writer and her novel The Woman In The Purple Skirt won the Akutagawa Prize, one of Japan’s most prestigious literary awards. She has also won various other literary prizes, including the Noma Literary New Face Prize and the Mishima Yukio Prize.
The Woman In The Purple Skirt has been translated from Japanese to English and was released in the UK in 2021.
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Plot
The Woman In The Purple Skirt is completely unaware her every move is being watched by the book’s narrator, The Woman In The Yellow Cardigan. The Woman In The Yellow Cardigan monitors what bus she catches, which park bench she sits on and what she eats. The Woman In The Purple Skirt is a mysterious figure, who seems to live in a world of her own, oblivious to the world around her.
The Woman In The Yellow Cardigan desperately wants to befriend this woman she has never even met. The narrator’s obsession with The Woman In The Purple Skirt deepens as she subtly starts to influence and manipulate her life.
The Woman in The Purple Skirt Book Review
The Woman In The Purple Skirt is quite a short read and is more of a novella than a regular novel. However, despite it being a quick read, it does pack a punch.
I found it to be a strange yet compelling story. The narrator’s obsession with The Woman In The Purple Skirt is quite unsettling and it seems to be the only thing we know about her. It raises so many questions as to why the narrator is so obsessed with this woman she has never even spoken to and these questions are never fully resolved.
It’s quite unsettling in places as you would expect from a novel that focuses on obsession and stalking. However, there are also some darkly witty moments.
I can honestly say I’ve not read anything quite like it. If you like quirky short fiction, this may be the read for you!
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