If This Is The Real World, Darlings, Stop It, And Get Off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Now, wait, girls, I am not suggesting anyone commit suicide.  If you are a devotee of Natuso Kirino's two previous novel, "Out," and "Grotesque," you will this short, compelling work equally disturbing, but not quite as gruesome.

                                    A chain reaction is set off among a group of local teens who sort of know one another, when one of them, a boy called Worm, murders his mother, for no apparent reason than her constant nagging.  And while the murder is spelled out in shocking detail, what follows in its wake is even more disturbing, as it questions the world these teens live in, whether they do or not have any sense of morality, responsibility, or personal involvement in anything around them.

                                     Don't get me wrong; this is not a YA novel, though teens could enjoy it.  It is an objective look, by a generational outsider, at the current young generation of Japan, and what might be standing in the way of their potential growth.

                                         I found this by accident in the Stand. I wasn't aware Kirino had a new book out, or one I had not read. But, as soon as I saw her name on it, I knew I had to read it.  And you should too.

                                            However, darlings, it is after reading something like this I realize how much more I prefer something like "Flower Drum Song!"

                                              Ah-so, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!