Butter
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Butter
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Narrated by:
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Hanako Footman
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By:
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Asako Yuzuki
About this listen
WINNER OF WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2025
THE NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK
‘A full-fat, Michelin-starred treat’ THE SUNDAY TIMES
'I have been glued to Asako Yuzuki's new novel Butter’ NIGEL SLATER
The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story, and translated by Polly Barton.
There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.
Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.
Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?
Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer", Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.
'Compelling, delightfully weird' PANDORA SYKES
'Luscious … I devoured this' IMOGEN CRIMP
'A salty morsel with one hell of a bite’ ALICE SLATER
'Unputdownable, breathtakingly original' ERIN KELLY
‘Nothing short of ingenious’ INEWS
‘Ambitious and unsettling’ GUARDIAN
'It isn’t entirely clear whether to read the novel or devour it’ OBSERVER
©2017 Asako Yuzuki (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Butter
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ZCC
- 02-11-24
Simply delicious!
This book had me captivated from the start, with many layers. Thought provoking, a window into Japanese culture and the expectations placed on women. It wasn't what I thought it would be, from the description, it turned out to be so much more.
I am also now a big fan of butter rice. Try it with roasted tenderstem broccoli too, it's the ultimate comfort food!
Butter is now firmly on my 'Listen Again' list.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Victoria
- 04-02-25
What did I Just Read?
This one wasn't for me. I felt it was way longer than it should be. Too much descriptions of food and cooking. That said the characters were well written and I liked thier relationships to each other. The narration was also pretty good.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 06-02-25
Both very odd and fantastic
If undecided whether to get it, as I was, try reading press reviews of the novel when first published. The Audible description is necessarily short, and perhaps that's led to the few unfavourable reviews here
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 18-03-25
Easy listening
A story to listen and relax to but not much seems to happen within it. Fun to listen about Japanese culture and food.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- holly
- 20-03-25
A little slow but it grew on me
Overall, I liked the story. It has a similar, slow pace to some other Japanese books I’ve read but I didn’t find the ending to be super satisfying.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hannah Campbell-Cox
- 24-09-24
Boring, was a shame
I wanted this to be good, but I lost all interest and it felt like it's didn't go anywhere. The concept had so much promise
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Allie
- 04-01-25
Bitterly good
Well written, I felt it made your tastebuds tingle. Would recommend especially to any food lovers.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- HW
- 06-01-25
All about food
Abit long and not very exciting ,but thoroughly enjoyable to find our about japanese culture
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Josie
- 20-01-25
A great book about food
This is such an immersive novel, as someone who doesn't know much about Japan or what it's like to live there, I still felt like I could clearly see the places Yuzuki was describing. I made the mistake of starting this book in early January when I was trying to eat more healthily, needless to say that didn't quite go to plan! Yuzuki's beautiful descriptions of food through the novel left me ravenous and excited to try some Japanese recipes. I even tried making ramen for the first time and my kids (3yo and 18 months) loved it!
Food, how it impacts your life and the way it interacts with societal pressures is very key to this novel, I found it such an interesting lense to look at life through, especially as someone who's been cooking since I was a kid. The novel is very reflective and, though the plot is interesting, the self development and to an extent that of the reader is clearly the main focus. I don't want to give too much away, but I found this to be a really interesting read.
The one thing I did struggle with a bit was the narrator, I chose to listen to the audiobook so that I would hear how the Japanese words and names are correctly pronounced. However the narrator was very monotone and this made it very difficult to differentiate between different characters, the spoken word and description. This coupled with the Japanese names and the Japanese naming structure of surnames going first, made it difficult for me to feel like I knew which character was which and sometimes what was happening. I would recommend reading a print or ebook version and looking up a pronunciation guide instead of listening to the audiobook for this one.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-02-25
Interesting and boring at the same time.
Butter blends true crime with a look at power, gender, societal status quo and our relationship with food. The themes are thought provoking but the pacing dragged. I finished it but the overall themes were more interesting than the actual story itself.
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