Rika Machido is a journalist just going through the motions of day-to-day living, pursuing her career without seeming to take much joy in it. She understands what she is supposed to do (excel), look like (thin), and become (the ideal wife). While she’s not particularly interested in the last two, she feels guilty about her lack of interest. Rika receives praise for how she excels at work, but she cannot feel satisfaction with her accomplishments because they are not enough. They will never be enough. And she’s noticed that even women who objectively have enough are also unsatisfied, or, at the very least, are always terrified of losing something by demanding too much for themselves. It is amid this malaise that she begins to interview an accused serial killer, Manako Kajii, blamed for killing multiple lovers after winning their hearts with her cooking.
Kajii has zero qualms about demanding more for herself--more love, more attention, more space--and claims there are only two things she cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine. Then there is Rika’s best friend, Reiko, who is making more of an effort to accomplish what Rika has not, but only by stepping away from her career. Kajii and Reiko become the two voices in Rika’s ears, one on each shoulder trying to influence how she sees herself in the world.
The vibe is a mashup of The Silence of the Lambs and Martha Stewart with an overlay of Virginia Woolf and then soaked in, and transformed by, Japanese culture. I definitely wanted to shake Rika from time to time…get it together, woman! But I, too, found myself drawn in by Kajii’s charms. It was a bit of a roller-coaster. I cheered for Rika as she grew to appreciate and respect herself, and grew frustrated when Reiko seemed to just not get it.
I thoroughly appreciated Kajii’s advice to stop caring so much about what other people think and to listen to your heart and body, especially when it comes to the food you eat and the space you are allowed to take up in the world. For someone who dislikes feminists, her advice and critique of the patriarchy would fit right in with Gloria Steinem, although it is a bit disquieting to think ‘hey that serial killer makes some solid points!’ I thoroughly enjoyed the slow reveal of the underlying characters of Rika, Kajii, and Reiko, none quite as they first appeared and ultimately creating a very interesting friendship triangle.
I sometimes struggled with the pacing and phrasing of the dialogue because of my inexperience with Japanese literature (or even anime and manga). And I wouldn’t recommend reading it while hungry unless you have time to cook something delicious. But I found, if you’ll forgive me, a lot of food for thought in the conversations and ruminations of these women. I suspect I will be thinking about Butter for a long while.
