Rieko Matsuura

Maybe it's because I'm so young or maybe it's because I'm weird like that, but I was actually really happy to see a book where the main character's thought process reflected mine. I think about things like crazy sometimes and it's easy for people to look at me and say that I'm not reacting, but I am; I just don't show it. That said, there were two things that bothered me about this book.1) The translator decided to refer to Masumi (the not-really-transwoman) as "he" throughout the text, while in the Japanese the pronoun use was avoided. If you read to the end, though, you realize it's not really that Masumi is a transwoman but an extremely devoted cis-gendered male drag queen.2) For all its denouncements of homophobia, the ending of the book seemed only to restore the heteronormative constructs the characters sought to escape. The only difference was the reasoning and the thinking--in my mind, that's enough, to realize that you wouldn't have had a relationship with Yoko not because she's a woman, but because you don't have a sexual interest in her. It might not be for some people.My favorite passage would have to be the one where the narrator deconstructs the idea of blow jobs as pleasurable and wonders whether her boyfriend really thinks his penis is dirty.… (meer)

A fascinating novel about a rather vanilla woman who wakes from a nap to discover her big toe has turned into a penis.
Perhaps the best thing about this novel is the fact that Matsuura approaches this conceit with a straight face. While it's undeniably funny, and grotesque, sexy, and perverse, the underlying physical realism, and the fact that Matsuura takes this all seriously makes the novel very worthwhile. It is problematic, and a little flawed.The point of the protagonist is that she's not a very interesting person really, beyond her toe-penis. Strong-minded, sure, with a sense of justice, and a resilience that are easy to get behind. But she's a little witless and passive. The novel is also somewhat more conservative (heteronormative, phallo-centric) then i was expecting or hoping. It's still a great read though - immersive, witty and thought-provoking.… (meer)