What do you think?
Rate this book
467 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
The pain of being treated like a mere object. And a sense that this pain would turn into pleasure.I've noticed an expansion in my reading standards of late that is old enough to have partway integrated itself into instinct, young enough for the instincts themselves to seem of peculiar make. It all boils down to a sense that, alright, since so much is passed over for the sake of beauteous prose, how about the same be held to when it comes to uncommon ideological groundwork. An author's writing may flow over my comprehension as smoothly as silk over lubricated skin, but pleasure's a thing of friction and reading's my Mnemosyne, so understanding's not worth much if nothing's left to contemplate.
A woman who does not know herself has no choice other than to live with other people's evaluations. But no one can adapt perfectly to public opinion. And herein lies the source of their destruction.To be honest, I know better than to trust a narrative involving sex workers that wasn't actually written a member of that particular trade. However, Kirino being Kirino, I don't have to trust her to learn something worth knowing.
Đàn ông sống bởi những quy định do chính họ đặt ra. Và một trong những quy định đó cho rằng đàn bà chỉ là một thứ hàng hóa thuộc quyền sở hữu của đàn ông. Một đứa con gái là của bố cô ta, một người vợ là sở hữu của người chồng. Những ham muốn dục vọng của một người phụ nữ mà không có lợi cho đàn ông thì tốt hơn là nên xếp xó...
[...] Một phụ nữ không biết chính mình thì sẽ không có sự lựa chọn nào khác là sống bằng thước đo của người khác... Nguồn gốc của tự hoại chính là đây.
[...] Đàn ông chính là chất nước xúc tác cho quá trình thối rữa của phụ nữ...”
p. 422:
"I'm not jealous because you made some money. It's because if those men are willing to pay that kind of money to you, Kazue, they must be the type who like monsters. I mean, you're ugly too. If some kid came across you in the dark, you can be sure he'd burst into tears. And you don't have much of a future. You're just going to keep falling lower and lower. You're going to have to quit your job at the firm before long because no one's going to be able to bear looking at you."
Yuriko's eyes glittered. I may have been a rock-bottom whore but the thought of slipping even lower frightened me. According to Yuriko's prophecy, at some point a monster-loving man would appear and kill me. I wonder if I'd be killed by Zhang. I remembered the humiliation I'd felt when he tossed me aside after sex. He hated me. He hated sex. But he liked monsters.
p. 467:
Women have only one reason for turning to prostitution. It's hatred for others, for the rest of the world. Not doubt this is incredibly sad, but then men have the capacity for countering such feelings in a woman. Still, if sex is the only way to dissolve these feelings, then men and women really are pathetic.