If for some reason you stumble across this book and decide to read it just skip straight to the second half. The first half of the book features incest, animal abuse (if the killing of a kitten and mutilation of its corpse can be called that) and rampant misogyny. The second half certainly still has the misogynistic element but it’s not nearly as bad as the first half and you get to skip a rather gruesome description of a kittens skinned body.

The main character of the book is a young teen called Noboru who thinks himself a genius despite clearly being heavily brainwashed by another teen boy he’s friends with that he just refers to as ‘chief’. Chief and the gang that Noboru are part of seem to take a believe that society just wants to constrain them and they are willing to go to great lengths to stop themselves being held within these perceived constraints. The killing of the kitten in the first half and the murder of Noboru’s step dad which is alluded to at the end of the book are proof of the strength of their belief. To anyone but themselves it’s quite clear that the views they hold are also hypocritical, they believe that women should still be at the beck and call of men despite their hatred of the lack of freedom afforded to them. Noboru turns on his step dad who he revered at the start of the book because he chooses to marry his mother rather than leaving her behind to continue his career as a seaman. He wanted his step dad to leave and for his mum to stay mourning the loss and awaiting his return. The parts of the book from the perspective of the mother are the best, she is witty and pragmatic but other than that this book is largely meh. The end was definitely interesting but that’s about the best I can say for it.