THE WOMAN IN THE PURPLE SKIRT

What first appears to be a simple story of one person becoming fascinated with another soon becomes a disturbing story of obsession. Jennifer Ikeda is the voice of the novel's lonely first-person protagonist. Ikeda's subtly nuanced performance takes listeners into contemporary working-class Japan, where the protagonist, who calls herself "the woman in the yellow cardigan," begins watching "the woman in the purple skirt" each day as she sits on her park bench eating her cream bun. She finds herself captivated by each movement the other woman makes and eventually tries to connect directly with her--with surprising results. Ikeda handles the minimalist writing with ease, developing each character through changing pitch and authentic Japanese rhythms. Shocking twists in the final chapters add to this absorbing listen. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2021]