Hitomi Kanehara: Autofiction
Hitomi Kanehara is an interesting lady. As I always do when reviewing an author for the first time I make a point of reading the biography blurb at the beginning of the book to get a feel for his or her background; Kanehara’s is, to put it mildly, unconventional. Her status as a professional writer, aided by the endorsement of well-known author Ryu Murakami whose edgy and controversial works bear quite a similarity, is all the more surprising given that she dropped out of school at an early age, left home as a teenager and started her career by e-mailing drafts of her work to her father, who works as a literary translator. Add to this the fact that Autofiction is focused on a twenty-something female writer who also had a colourful early life, and you have to wonder where the inspiration for this striking novel came from.
This possiblility that the book’s title should be taken literally is dangled in front of the reader’s nose from the outset but whether it’s a clever bluff on Kanehara’s part is another matter. Either way, the character of Rin and the events of her life are a fascinating read. The first chapter picks her story up soon after her wedding, then successive chapters take up the narrative at points earlier on in her life; telling stories in reverse is nothing new of course (taken to extremes in the likes of the movie Memento) but in this case the approach serves to dig into the troubled psyche of the protagonist, peeling away layer after layer of insecurity and paranoia as it goes.
