Book Review: Otsuichi and Kendi Oiwa, Goth (2003)

This mangafication of the Otsuichi novel of the same name features a pair of death-obsessed teenagers who have a knack for stumbling upon serial killers in their midst. As a result, though horrifying scenes abound, this horror is couched in a world of coincidental whimsy. Perhaps this is a personal failing, but I prefer my serial killers without whimsy. Grade C-

Pulp Poem of the Week

The halls twisted like a digestive tract
through the spacious house.
They hadn’t been designed to be complicated—
at least I thought they hadn’t—
and yet at each intersection I found myself
losing track of where I was.
As I walked along the black floorboards,
I started to feel the illusion of the halls
languidly moving
like the peristalsis of the intestines.

Otsuichi
Black Fairy Tale
2004
(translated by Nathan Collins)

Book Review: Otsuichi, Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse (2000)

I read this one for the title novella, Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse, an excellent juvie noir pageturner narrated from the POV of a murdered little girl. Also included are a short story, “Yuko,” which reminded me of Hawthorne, and a novel, Black Fairy Tale, a J-horror story that weaves together an amnesiac and a serial killer, a winning combination if ever there was one. Translated by Nathan Collins. Grade: B+