The Woman in the Purple Skirt
Ratings27
Average rating3.2
Plainly put, this is a story of a woman being stalked - told from the stalker's perspective. The narrator follows around the Woman in the Purple Skirt, often recording her whereabouts and routines in her diary, and subtly manipulating her life by leaving behind shampoo samples or magazines with jobs ads encircled with a pen.
I won't lie - the premise was intriguing; and although the whole stalking bit was quite unsettling, it had a degree hilarity and absurdity which made reading the book enjoyable. The book explores the themes of loneliness, and the desire to be seen as is evident from the narrator's intense obsession with the Woman in the Purple Skirt, who she believes to be someone known to everyone, as opposed to herself, who is always in the shadows. The book also explores the theme of power dynamics and politics at play in the workplace, where envy and gossip can often led to adverse consequences, and it also throws light on the plight faced by single woman in the workplace, often manipulated and besmirched by those in power.
While I don't deny the entertainment value, and fast paced nature of the book, I still feel the ending was a little too abrupt. I still have questions I think the author should've answered. And the themes, although interesting, were only superficially explored through the storyline.
“The Woman in the Purple Skirt might fly into a rage, and then grab me and drag me off the bus. But I didn't care. That would allow me to tell her who I was, and to apologize to her, and beg her forgiveness. And then we could become friends.”
I genuinely did not think it was possible to make a story about stalking so BORING.
Absolutely nothing happened in this book until the very end. Any of the creepy factor of the MC (who was flat as a board, character-wise) so closely following and tracking what the Woman was doing was smothered with how boring the author wrote. I could tell the author was trying to make her writing down all these little details and timestamps be seen as a terrifying thing, as she's tracking the Woman so closely, but these endless irrelevant details had my eyes glazing over. I literally just sat here for an hour and read about a woman watching another woman go shopping, then go to work, then go on a date, and onward and so forth. There is no horror or dread in this book at all.
This book's only saving grace is that it's short. If it was even a bit longer I would've DNFed it.
I picked this up on a whim thinking it sounded interesting and I was not at all disappointed. It was different from anything else I typically read and I really enjoyed it.
When I read a book (or watch a movie/tv show) about a stalker, it tends to be about sexual attraction, ex lovers, etc. This one was just about The (lonely) Woman in the Yellow Cardigan obsessing over how much she wanted to be The Woman in the Purple Skirt's friend. It was kind of sweet in that way. Well, as sweet as a story about a stalker can be. Although, the book wasn't really about The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. We don't even get many details about her, we mostly get information about The Woman in the Purple Skirt, as if the book is just about her and The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan is simply a subjective narrator. A great quick read!
This book is like watching a trainwreck in slow motion. It also feels like secondhand stalking. A short yet fascinating read that makes a jab at how the society functions, with an open ending that leaves things to your own interpretation.
“So I would do it again. And this time, much harder. I might dig my nails into the flesh on the top of her nose, and make her bleed. The Woman in the Purple Skirt might fly into a rage, and then grab me and drag me off the bus. But I didn't care. That would allow me to tell her who I was, and to apologize to her, and beg her forgiveness. And then we could become friends.”
Imamura, Natsuko. The Woman in the Purple Skirt (p. 104). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
The Woman in the Purple Skirt is the object of close observation and study by the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. Very close observation and study. It's a story of loneliness. It's a story of obsession. It's a story of disfunction. And it's mesmerizing because you don't know where the story is going or what the characters might do.
Natsuko Imamura's The Woman In The Purple Skirt is gripping enough that I read it in a single sitting today. Starting off quirky but always unsettling (it's a book about obsession after all), it gets progressively darker as it continues, but not without a certain dry sense of humour throughout. Really enjoyed this!