‘Butter’ cooks up a sordid tale of the impossible standards placed on women

“Don’t you think that’s a disease of the contemporary age? It feels like these days our value is determined by how much effort we make from day to day. That matters even more than our results. After a while, the concept of effort starts to become mixed up with things feeling difficult, and then you reach a point where the person seen as the most admirable is the one suffering the most. I think that’s the reason people are so vicious towards Manako Kajii. She refuses to live that life, refuses to suffer.” — “Butter,” Asako Yuzuki

“Butter” is based on the real-life case of the Konkatsu Killer, in which a con woman and talented home cook called Kanae Kijima was convicted of poisoning three of her male lovers. “Butter” is a sordid story that interrogates the impossible beauty standards to which Japanese women are held.

Raki is a journalist who is trying to get an interview with the serial killer and gourmet cook Manako Kajii. Kajii is being held in Tokyo Detention Center, convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen that she allegedly seduced with her home cooking. Kajii refused interviews, but Raki finds a way to get through by asking for a recipe. 

Their first meetings are all discussions about food, and this is where I’d highly recommend this book to any foodies out there. The descriptions of the food in this novel are delightful. In fact, this book should come with the warning “Don’t read on an empty stomach!”

“The grease of the butter melded with the grit of the sugar and the pungent soy sauce. By the time she’d finished chewing, the roots of her teeth were trembling pleasurably.” 

As Raki spends time with Kajii and her way of thinking, she explores food with an indulgence she has never allowed herself before. After these discussions, Raki starts to eat at the places that Kajii recommends, and then she starts exploring her recipes. Upon meeting Kajii, Raki is a very thin woman, which is respected among the societal standards of how women should look in Japan.

“Japanese women are required to be self-denying, hard-working and ascetic, and in the same breath to be feminine, soft and caring towards men.”

Once Raki starts to gain weight, her relationships with family, friends, and co-workers begin to change. This allows her to see Kajii and the societal pressures that women deal with through a different lens. This is where the book tends to change its storyline. 

I was under the assumption that the book was about a serial killer and a journalist trying to find about the mysterious deaths of Kajii’s lovers, instead, it turns into a story about Raki as well as Japanese culture, particularly the misogyny, fatphobia and gender roles that still govern people’s behavior.

These societal norms aren’t just a Japanese cultural standard. Here in America, we women also deal with the same pressures to be successful, become good wives and mothers, maintain relationships with friends and extended families, keep homes tidy and clean, all the while looking ridiculously beautiful and whatever you do, don’t gain weight! These standards are insane! This book addresses those issues all the while enjoying all the sensory tidbits of the food descriptions.

“What you need above all is strength … A fighting spirit that can withstand the tedium of everyday life without getting blunted by it.”

Deborah Condit is the owner of Books on the Bosque, 6261 Riverside Plaza Lane, Suite A-2 or at booksonthebosque.com.