Penance is another psychological thriller from Kanye Minato. Her previous novel Confessions was a sensation in Japan (winning awards and was made into a film) in which a teacher reveals she knows the children who killed her daughter, and the repercussions on all the students when she enacts her revenge.
Penance has the same first person account of a tragedy and how the event transformed all their lives.
In a small country town, renown for its pure fresh air, a large company has set up new headquarters. The newcomers are seen as rich and above the quaint townspeople, who feel their simple ways are derided as naive. Emily is a rich girl who has made friends with four local girls and they often play together, they aren't so different after all. Playing by the school pool, a maintenance man approaches asking a favour - could one of them help him fix something in the change rooms? Emily agrees and an hour later, when she hasn't returned, they find she has been attacked and killed. The man is never caught, and Emily's mother Asako, in complete grief, blames the girls and forces a penance on all of them for their failure. It is now fifteen years later - the anniversary of the statute of limitations for murder charges in Japan - and the women let Asako know how this curse has damaged their lives.
Sae married a husband who had desires she could not accept; Maki became a teacher who was involved with another child being killed; Akiko (always strong as a bear, like a twin of her brother) attacked when she found out the truth about his family, and Yuka is now pregnant, but by her sister's husband. Each were involved with tragic deaths after Emily, and it seems it was all caused by Asako's curse. That is - until we hear from Asako herself - which puts a completely different outlook on the story that has been told.
This is a terrific and complex novel, involving the honest emotions of young girls to a tragedy - girls who were too young and are still dealing with the trauma 15 years later. It shows how each character's motivations and feelings can be so far from reality they get lost in a world of their own. The mother Asako is also lost - unknowing it is her story which holds the answer to the identity of the killer all along.
Their lives are so intertwined, at what point would an intervention have changed their outcomes?
This tense thriller is recommended.
Also reviewed by Kanye Minato:
2012 / translated 2017 / Tradeback / 227 pages
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This book seems to be too intense. I think I won't be able to read it.
Neeru