The Woman in the Purple Skirt - Natsuko Imamura

 

  In Natsuko Imamura’s debut novel in English The Woman in the Purple Skirt follows the story of a woman who is notoriously noted for always wearing the same purple skirt, eating the same cream bun, and sitting in the same seat in the park. Children in the park play a game to try and get her attention and is subject to local intrigue about who she is. What the Woman in the Purple Skirt is unaware of is that there is someone watching her every move, not a stalker, but a friendly stranger. The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, when not at work, is always watching the Woman in the Purple Skirt. After noticing that the Woman in the Purple Skirt is constantly in and out of work the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan manages to secure The Woman in the Purple Skirt a job at the same hotel that she works at much to the disgust of the other employees.

 

   What begins as a friendly gesture from the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan slowly develops into an all-consuming obsession to become friends with the Woman in the Purple Skirt. The desperation to end her loneliness by making friends with the Woman in the Purple Skirt is both saddening and shocking to see the extents that the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan is willing to go. The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a victim to so many things that aren’t her fault and often things she is unaware of, such as The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan’s desperate attempts for contact. And when the two do finally connect it is the most horrid circumstance. After a fight with her boyfriend who is the director of the hotel, the Woman in the Purple Skirt causes him to fall from the second-floor railing. Confronted by the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan confirms the worst, that he has been killed and tells the Woman in the Purple Skirt a plan so that they can flee together. I’m still unsure whether the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan was lying so that she could finally be friends with the Woman in the Purple Skirt, but it would make the story darker and more obsessive. The ending is amazing, I was constantly trying to guess how it was going to end while I was reading and never would have guessed what actually happened. The ending left me feeling content and was the perfect ending for such an amazing book.