Manako Kajii loves to cook almost as much as she likes to eat. She dated older men and took their gifts, mainly financial, providing gourmet quality food in return. But after the death of her three gentlemen, she sits in prison, convicted for their murders. Rika Machida, a junior writer for a weekly magazine, is obsessed with the case. Kajii has refused to give any interviews but after Rika asks for her recipe for beef stew instead of an interview, Rika achieves what no other journalist has been able to; an invitation to visit Kajii at the detention centre.
I had always believed that the enviable long and healthy lives of Japanese people was partly down to how little dairy was consumed, so I was surprised at how much butter featured in this novel. From the tigers turning into butter in The Story of Little Babaji to Kajii recommending Rika add high quality butter to everything she eats, it’s clear to see from where the book gets it’s title. It’s also clear that butter’s job in the book isn’t just culinary; it works also as a metaphor for richness and indulgence in a world where self-denial – to conform to a societal norm of thinness – is expected, especially from women. Butter is a rejection of misogyny and a kick to the shins of patriarchy.
Yuzuki has given butter a lot to carry in this novel.
Kajii came from the ‘dairy capital’ of the prefecture. Rika has hitherto lived a life of denial of most comforts and indulgences. Kajii feels the only life worth living is a life of indulgence. She says she ‘…simply cannot tolerate feminists and margarine.’
Rika’s obsession deepens with her visits to Kajii and we, as the reader, have to ask ourselves how healthy this obsession can be.
This novel is based on the true story of ‘The Konkatsu Killer’ and while it successfully uses this as the springboard to examine misogyny, indulgence, gender roles, family and love, it could have gone much further. If I were to criticise it at all it would be for being too safe, especially when compared to some other Japanese novels (e.g., Sayaka Murat’s Earthlings). But the characters were deftly enough drawn for me to care what happened to them one way of another.
A worthwhile read, for sure, but be prepared to have a hankering for rice with butter and a drop of soy sauce.
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