A review by imogenrose97
Butter by Asako Yuzuki

4.5

 
I have never read a book that made me as hungry as this one. I want to go back and read it again and eat all of the meals to eat while I read the descriptions. Butter was one of those books that have a whole nest of things that link back into each other and leave you confounded that it all came together like that. Food was used as a device to depict Japanese society. Whether you could cook or not, whether you cooked solely for your family or made the effort simply for yourself. Having lived alone and as someone who views food as not only sustenance but as an enjoyable activity and a luxury I have always sought to give myself. Cooking is a meditative and sustaining practice and as someone who has had an eating disorder and still struggles with disordered eating, I try my best to approach food as an exciting part of my day and not just something I force myself to do in order to survive. The analogy of food as how much you look after yourself, and how much you will care for yourself in the future was stunning. 
I was mildly frustrated by Reiko and Rika's internal monologues about each other, which had me hoping for and expecting them to end up together.  But also happy for a book to end without the need for a romance to tie it all back in.
Rika's kindness towards Kajii was something I found particularly interesting. She never judged her harshly. Spent much of her thoughts objectively trying to understand why Kajii was the way she was. Instead of following the mass thoughts of judgment, she tried to understand how society had shaped Kajii and in turn, she grew to understand how society had shaped her own life. By the end, it became clear how much was linked back to how her father died and how society blamed her mum for leaving an abusive relationship and "letting" him die, how Rika in turn blamed herself. 
Though this book might seem like a simple exploration of food, it somehow covered an entire society's view of women and the foundations that they support.