#butter by asako yuzuki

[teacups-and-saucers]

If you liked NBC's Hannibal, you might like Butter by Asako Yuzuki.

I picked this book up from the bookstore after reading the premise online and getting a very Hannibal vibe from it. Pretty much it's about this journalist who gets intrigued by a chef serial killer. Also, they're both women.

So I was like 'ooh I might like this'. I wasn't getting my hopes up though.

However, within 2 chapters, it's like if Hannibal tried seducing Will not through murder and cannibalism, but through food.

THE MANIPULATION. THE MEETINGS IN A ROOM IN A PRISON WITH GLASS BETWEEN THEM. THE SLOW CHANGE OF THE PROTAGONIST'S MINDSET INTO THAT OF THE ANTAGONIST'S, ALL WHILE SEEMING TO MAINTAIN AGENCY.

Not to mention that Butter's antagonist is three things: fond of an affluent lifestyle, is particular with food, cuisine, and ingredients, and is not bothered by being accused of murder. If you're a Hannibal-scammed-his-old-rich-patients-to-include-him-in-their-wills truther, this antagonist is on a similar vein too.

And similar to Will Graham, Butter's protagonist is someone who, while fit for the lifestyle that the antagonist lives, had never actively sought that kind of life despite being around it for a very long time. And through her stubbornness to keep interacting with the antagonist, Butter's protagonist, like Will Graham, ends up getting sucked into and eventually personalizing the lifestyle that the antagonist wanted her to take part in.

Like Hannibal, Butter has aspects of visiting a hometown to get to know someone better, an odd kind of friendship forming from manipulation, and lonely main characters. It also has a bit of Hannibal's S1 actions not being unique toward Will, but the relationship and interest that gets cultivated being one of a kind for Hannibal. That kind of 'you're just another interesting specimen' to "I'm intrigued." "Obsessively." pipeline.

It doesn't really have any romantic subplots, so if that's what you're looking for, you'll be disappointed. But other than that, Butter and Hannibal have a lot of themes and plotlines in common that might make Butter an enjoyable read for some Fannibals. The way Butter handles the themes definitely differs by the end, but if you're just in it for the ride, it might just work out.

Oh, and Butter focuses a lot on French cuisine. It's like if Hannibal indulged in describing the food he makes rather than gave a rundown of the ingredients and a brief history. Sometimes I felt like that would've been what it sounded like in his head when he thought about food.

Anyway, if you're a Fannibal who likes to read, give Butter by Asako Yuzuki a try. I know I would've enjoyed Butter on its own, but having read it while being obsessed with Hannibal made me love it so much more.

[galina]

Driving through topanga to malibu, the top down, baby's first la croix, rainier cherries, dolphins swimming by, and a big buttery summer read

[paperbaacks]

༊*·˚ — 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟻-𝟺-𝟹-𝟸-𝟷 𝚝𝚊𝚐

✧ — five books i love

the invisible life of addie larue - v.e. schwab

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo - taylor jenkins reid

yellowface - r.f. kuang

piranesi - susanna clarke

paper moon - rehana munir

✧ — four books on my tbr

the cinnamon bun book store - laurie gilmore

butter - asako yuzuki (translated by polly barton)

just kids - patti smith

the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde

✧ — three books i recommend

babel - r.f. kuang

loveless - alice oseman

blue sisters - coco mellors

✧ — two books i've read recently

intermezzo - sally rooney

in the dream house - carmen maria machado

✧ — one book i'm currently reading

the pumpkin spice café - laurie gilmore

[hatefulbread]

january feels and reads

it's a cold southern morning where i am, and getting started has been more difficult than i can grasp.

this winter reminds me of the winters i grew up with; freezing nights, not a week goes by without flurries or freezing rain, oil radiators at the ready for when the heat pump can't keep up. we haven't had a winter like this in over 12 years and it makes me wonder if i was this reluctant to get out of my warm bed as an adolescent.

when it's this cold in the morning, snow piled on the ground right outside my window, all i want is to curl up under my calico quilt with a serene book and a velvet latte. it feels criminal to give up this simple want to log into a laptop and stare at spreadsheets for hours on end. especially when the sun goes down at 5pm.

i spoke with my mom for some time last night about this seasonal dip in energy and fervor. everyone i speak to these days feels the same. it makes me wonder what our lives would be like if society would just let us hibernate for a single season. don't we deserve it?

anyway- i came here to share my upcoming reads with you, not drone on about the winter sorrows.

upcoming reads for this month;

1. 'our wives under the sea' by julia armfield

2. 'butter' by asako yuzuki

3. 'the sentence' by louise erdrich

4. 'the end of the world is a cul de sac' by louise kennedy

i often read multiple books at once so my adhd can wander as it pleases. i couldn't tell you how i'm able to keep up with them all, especially because reading is the only thing i can do this with.

i woke to a sweet comment on my first post from someone searching for a new platform for community, as am i. as many of us are aware, tiktok is going away within a few days. i am one of many who found such amazing community on that app, both in the booktok community and the sapphic community. i feel so upset with our government for having to let go of such a shaping part of my personhood, all under the guise of national security. we're losing our ability to see raw and real news in real time and i hope we can all take a stand to reject this censorship.

i'm confident we can all find that community somewhere else, though it may take time. none of us are new to trial and error, so persist, we shall. perhaps tumblr will be that community for us. perhaps perhaps perhaps. see you soon.

[papenathys]

Read three books this year which changed my brain chemistry in ways a normal person cannot comprehend and all of them are by Asian authors or set in East Asian countries. Specifically a dreampunk, gritty, erotic and violently queer image of city life.

[but-my-weekend-is-booked]

This is my finished rebind of Asako Yuzuki’s novel, Butter. It’s the English translation, but the word Butter looked absolutely terrible for the cover design. So I took a cop-out and used the Japanese title. It still reads as ‘Bata’, but at least it is more pleasing to look at.

[aquitainequeen]

She perched a sliver of butter on top of the rice. From one of the sachets of soy sauce that came with convenience store bento boxes and which tended to accumulate in her apartment, she squeezed a single drop into the bowl. Just as instructed, she moved the butter and some rice to her mouth before the butter had a chance to melt. The first thing Rika felt was a strange breeze emanating from the back of her throat. The cold butter first met the roof of her mouth with a chilly sensation, contrasting with the steaming rice in both texture and temperature. The cool butter clashed against her teeth, and she felt its soft texture right down into their roots. Soon enough, just as Kajii had said, the melted butter began to surge through the individual grains of rice. It was a taste that could only be described as golden. A shining golden wave, with an astounding depth of flavour and a faint yet full and rounded aroma, wrapped itself around the rice and washed Rika's body far away. It was, indeed, a lot like falling. Rika stared down intently at the bowl of rice with butter and soy sauce and let out a long sigh, feeling her breath rich and milky.

Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton

[readinginmars]

"I was wondering what on earth it was you’d gone and done, and that was it! You’d put on weight. She said she was hopelessly worried about you. You’d left the world of reason behind. That sickened me to hear. Is the woman daft, or what? Being that upset about what happens to somebody else’s body! How can someone be so conscious of what shape another person takes, of the extent to which they’ve liberated their desires? It’s not normal to feel such anxiety about that. If you’re paying more attention to the form other people are assuming than what’s taking place inside yourself, it means something is seriously wrong with you."

Butter - Asako Yuzuki

[baravaggio]

None of the fiction I've picked up lately has scratched the stylistic itch for me like it's either total slop or so beautiful I can't get through a page without feeling overwhelmed

[bagofghosts]

Girl best friends

[akimao]

A little break from the Gormenghast universe 🤣 Butter! this is the italian edition, I love the illustration 💕

Unfortunately I didn't find the illustrator's name 😞

[galina]

Hot sun, hot sand, hot books, hot butter on the tongue

[paperbaacks]

review:

trigger warnings: fatphobia, murder, sexual assault (off page, in the past) this was good, idk why the ratings are so bad for this book. i liked the character study angle it took instead of a run of the mill, regular crime thriller. sure, it could have been a 100 pages shorter because the second half did drag a little bit. that one random chapter from reiko's pov also felt out of place. where i think the book is really strong, is creating a complex portrait of kajii as well as rika. they are really well done 3D characters. at times, this book really gave me some villanelle and eve vibes. it delves well into discussions of misogyny and fatphobia disguised as concern. i really fucking love rika's observations of her body, and the fact that she's never shown to hate her body at any point in time even thought people around her tell her she should diet, "out of concern". and, fuck, did it make me crave food CONSTANTLY. butter and soy sauce and rice i'm coming for you, just you wait.

[highsummonermercar]

Favourite book covers from around the world

Allow me to Introduce Myself by Onyi Nwabineli (North America)

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur (Korean)

You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)

Butter by Asaki Yuzuki (Italy)

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole (Spain)

Yellowface by R.F Kuang (Indonesia)

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (Taiwan)

Welcome to the Hyungnam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Boreum (UK)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (Chinese)

[sweetlyresonating]

Yet I couldn’t let go of the sense that if I stopped moving, the merry-go-round called our family would simply cease to rotate. If I stopped moving, then I wouldn’t be loved.

Butter, Asako Yuzuki