Penance

February 13, 2017
Minato’s moving, tension-filled second novel charts the impact of a traumatic murder on four young women, Sae, Maki, Akiko, and Yuka, who were childhood friends of the victim, Emily. One summer day, when they’re all 10, a strange man approaches the girls while they’re playing ball by the swimming pool of their small, rural Japanese town’s elementary school. The stranger, claiming he has no ladder, says he needs someone to help him reach a ventilating fan in a pool changing room. Emily goes with him. When she doesn’t return, the other girls go looking for her only to discover her dead. Emily’s mother blames the girls and warns them to “atone for what you’ve done, in a way I’ll accept,” if they can’t find the murderer. Fifteen years later, with the statute of limitations running out, each survivor relates the consequences of that warning for herself. All these fully fleshed-out characters have suffered since Emily’s death, each in her own way. Minato (Confessions) has crafted an unnerving tale of tragedy, guilt, and penance.

February 1, 2017
A grieving parent and four guilt-stricken friends struggle to cope with the rape and strangulation of a 10-year-old girl.Japanese author Minato follows up her successful U.S. debut (Confessions, 2014) with a second twisted tale of retribution and regret. Sae, Maki, Yuka, Akiko, and Emily are playing ball when a stranger lures away Emily with a request for help. She fails to return to the game, and that evening, the girls discover her corpse. Incredibly, no one can remember the perpetrator's face, and he goes uncaught. Three years pass before Emily's imperious mother, Asako, summons the girls to her home. She faults them for what happened and demands that they either catch Emily's killer or perform an act of penance. If they do neither, she'll exact revenge. Twelve years later, as the statute of limitations for Emily's murder is about to expire, Sae, Maki, Yuka, and Akiko give their accounts of the tragedy and describe how Emily's death and Asako's threat have ruined their lives. While the tales take different forms--one is a letter, another a speech--and each contains a uniquely disturbing twist, they all retread much the same ground. Minato's characters are psychologically complex, but their rambling narrations lack immediacy, and though a note from Asako ties off several loose ends to devastating effect, a toothless epilogue undercuts the story's psychological impact. Despite an intriguing premise and some shocking reveals, Minato's latest ultimately succumbs to monotony and bloat.

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Starred review from March 1, 2017
Celebrated Japanese novelist Minato revisits the themes of schoolyard murder and grief-fueled revenge that drove her Confessions (2014), which won Japan's National Booksellers' Award. Fifteen years ago, fourth-graders Sae, Maki, Akiko, Yuko, and Emili were playing ball in their deserted schoolyard when a man claiming to be a maintenance worker asked Emili to help him make a repair in the locker room. When Emili didn't return, the girls began searching and found her body. Years later, the murder remains unsolved and Emili's mother, Asako, blames the four surviving girls for her death. Asako vows revenge against the girls unless they either find Emili's killer before the crime's 15-year statute of limitations runs out, or make acceptable penance. In five tales narrated by the girls and Asako, Minato reveals the damage Emili's murder has wrought as the girls' efforts to appease Asako make them killers in their own right. Minato's simple, clear voice highlights the stories' psychological intensity, and themes of powerlessness evolving to strength, duty, and redemption create layers of interest that are perfect for book-group dissection. This haunting psychological thriller also offers an enlightening, absorbing visit to contemporary Japan. A perfect read-alike for Natsuo Kirino's Real World (2008).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)