Mongrel

It's not often I finish a book and immediately go back to the beginning to re-read it, but I definitely had to go back and revisit a fair few parts of Mongrel with the full picture in mind at last.

For a lot of the book, the stories of the three protagonists seem difficult to tie together. You can tell that there is a connection between them all, but we see so much of each character's lives in such a disjointed manner that it's rarely clear when some events are happening.

When the connections become clear and the story truly unfolds, it definitely gives you a stronger appreciation for the layers built up earlier on, back when it was unclear exactly what these foundations were actually for.

But, even before all that, there are clear - often unfortunate - parallels between all three women we jump around between the perspectives of. Firstly is obviously their Japanese heritage - the title of the book stemming specifically from Meiko's half-Japanese/half-English heritage, and fittingly marking her as arguably the true lead protagonist around whom Yuki and Haruka's stories ultimately, eventually circle.

Secondly is their unfortunate histories with sexual violence and toxic relationships. There's a particularly visceral nature to how both the femininity and the sexuality of all three characters plays out throughout their lives. For as much as we dwell on each woman's body and on sex, it's rarely particularly titilating or “spicy”. It's often far more raw, matter-of-fact or considerably worse. It can make it quite a harrowing read at times.

Yuki's story I found to be particularly interesting, since it's not only foundational to the rest of the story in its own way, but we get to see from her own perspective her own self-destructive and toxic behaviour that hardly paints her part in her doomed relationship in a positive light. Right alongside the other characters' perspectives, where her victimhood has more of an unquestioned purity to it.

Until the story came together towards the end, I have to admit to struggling a little with the book's structure. At one point, after bouncing with a relatively comfortable cadence between Meiko and Yuki's stories, we spend an extended period of time exclusively with the third character, Haruka. With no clear connection to the rest of the story at this stage, it did feel at the time like the pacing overall had kinda gotten lost.

But, once you reach the end, it becomes clear that there's no way you could tell this story other than exactly how it's presented.

This one might need some determination to persevere all the way through, but it's definitely worth it.

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A beautifully written book, but unfortunately I feel like it wasn't meant for me. I considered DNF'ing this early on as it seemed to be a ‘all males are assholes' kind of book. I think having the characters interacting and hanging around jocks and dickheads was a way for the author to present the whole ‘terrible things happen to women all the time' narrative.