📚 Butter
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary Originally Published: 2017
💭 Quick Summary & Thoughts
This was a good book. Nowhere close to the best I’ve read, but a genuinely unique read. There are a few topics the book touches upon that I found quite fascinating, and it’s those broader themes that make it worth picking up.
The book dives deep into the incredibly harsh expectations placed on Japanese women to look a certain way. Putting on even a little bit of weight causes such extreme reactions from everyone around you, and that pressure shapes how women see food in Japan. Manako Kajii, however, is the exact opposite. She’s comfortable in her own skin, loves to eat rich food, and of course, butter. Quite ironically, all the lavish food descriptions in the book actually killed my appetite, that’s the kind of food I would almost never have. So many calories, just the thought sends shudders.
Here’s the thing though, it’s not really a murder mystery. It’s marketed as one, but it’s much more of a slice-of-life novel that touches upon social norms that don’t truly make sense. If you go in expecting a tightly plotted whodunit, you’ll be disappointed. If you go in expecting a character-driven exploration of identity, body image, and what it means to live authentically, you’ll find something genuinely compelling.
I was confused by the oh-so-many detours the book takes. From visiting Kajii’s hometown to Reiko’s investigation into the pedophile - these tangents don’t add anything to the murder mystery plot. They add a lot to the characters and their journeys, sure, but not to the central mystery. The book should be read for the characters, their journeys, and the broader social commentary, not for the thriller element.
There are so many discussion-worthy topics here. Body image and weight are such a controversial subject. The way I see it, society has no business dictating what you should look like. It’s a deeply individual choice. I personally like to stay in decent shape because there are real health risks associated with obesity, but I don’t want to go off the rails chasing an unattainable target. I feel like instead of measuring health in terms of waistline and looks, we should measure it in fitness, running 5Ks, 10Ks, that sort of thing. Makes for a much healthier lifestyle rather than just starving yourself because the world wants you to.
⚠️ Spoiler Zone
🚨 Click to reveal spoilers 🚨
As a murder mystery, the crux of it is this: Kajii found lonely men and gave them the care and attention they so desperately desired. Eventually, when she got sick of them, she’d just move on. But the loss of Kajii in these men’s lives would lead them to commit suicide or be careless enough that an accident would happen. That’s it. That’s the “murder.”
The one part I genuinely didn’t get is how Kajii could have such a strong influence on the men she dated, and eventually on Rika too, that her choosing to distance herself was enough for them to become borderline suicidal. I can’t fathom the idea of a single person having that much sway over someone else.
Reiko’s character arc was honestly my favourite part of the book. She lets go of her job to focus on her marriage and starting a family, but soon realizes that’s not what she actually wants. She has marriage troubles with Yosuke and eventually tries to escape her life under the guise of investigation. With Rika’s help, she recovers and figures out how she wants to move forward. Her past - her parents’ infidelity and how it shaped her thinking — is so well written. That one chapter from her perspective was easily the highlight of the entire novel. Her story is so relatable. Nobody really knows what they want. I’ve personally read countless books on the subject and I still don’t know. We make certain decisions because we think that’s what society expects of us, and then realize it isn’t us.
The ending isn’t very murder-mystery-like either. Kajii’s trial is left unconcluded, and we don’t really know if what’s heavily implied in the book is in fact how the men lost their lives. But I still like the ending. The novel’s central metaphor, butter vs. margarine, the real thing vs. the imitation, resolves not in Kajii’s insistence on luxury and exclusivity, but in Rika’s discovery that the real thing isn’t a brand of French butter. It’s cooking a turkey over three days for your friends. It’s choosing to eat well and live fully. It’s refusing to settle for a half-life of convenience store meals and hollow relationships, while also refusing to let pleasure become a weapon.
💬 Quote Corner
“There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.”
“There is nothing in this world so pathetic, so moronic, so meaningless as dieting.”
“Pleasantly full as she was, Rika felt like crying. She might dine with someone, but at the end of the meal they would go their separate ways. She couldn’t stay with that person forever. Even with her stomach full of warmth and the taste of delicious food lingering on her tongue, she remained alone. It didn’t matter who she had for company. She was beginning to understand that the more delicious the time she spent with others, the more alone she felt.”
⭐ Ratings
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