‘The Woman in the Purple Skirt’ by Natsuko Imamura was the first book I picked up this year. It was a slim volume. I thought I would finish it in a day or two and be able to tick a book off my GoodReads reading challenge very early into the new year. But the content is heavy, requiring time to mull over. It took me a week to finally finish the book. It wasn’t a great story but it was fascinating. The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a story about a woman who stalks someone, in hopes of striking up a friendship with her. At the heart of the novel is the desire for connection. Narrated in the first person by a person who calls herself the woman in the yellow cardigan, she reveals little about herself until the end of the story. It lends an element of mystery to the novel. The woman in the yellow cardigan lives close to the woman in the purple skirt and notices everything about her—from the fact that she doesn’t seem to hold down a job for too long or that she regularly enjoys eating a cream bun at the park. The story starts innocently enough but soon takes on a more ominous tone. As the narrator talks about waiting for the ‘woman in the purple skirt’ at the bus stop and in dark alleys, you stop empathizing with the character and become scared of her. The narrator’s intentions aren’t very clear, one moment she seems harmless and the other moment you are unsure if she is just lonely or if her motives are driven by something far more sinister. As the book progresses, you realize the narrator is someone the woman in the purple skirt knows, and that sends a chill down your spine. You wonder how often someone doesn’t realize he or she is being watched.

The novel is reminiscent of Sayaka Murata’s ‘Convenience Store Woman’, a story about a woman who is comfortable working at a convenience store and has no society-fed ambitions in life. But Murata’s protagonist is far more likable than Imamura’s main character. However, Imamura has crafted a unique story, steering clear of all clichés and tropes.

The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a bizarre story that will have you wondering what just happened more than a couple of times. But the chapters are short so that makes the story easy to follow. It’s largely a story about obsession and how it can lead to one’s unraveling in the worst possible way. And though it’s an apolitical novel, there are references to Japan’s culture and economy that add another layer to the story. Three stars Fiction The Woman in the Purple Skirt Natsuko Imamura Translated by Lucy North Published: 2021 Publisher: Penguin Books Pages: 224, Paperback