Book Review: The Night of Baba Yaga
Written by Japanese author Akira Otani and translated into English by translator Sam Bett, The Night of Baba Yaga is a tale of violence against oppressive tradition. It’s a story built to reflect the systemic sexism that defines the gritty world of the Yakuza syndicate in Japan with how it treats women as objects to be owned rather than people to be cherished and respected. It seeks to dive into this dark environment with a bold and unapologetic disruptor though it’s central characters and the intimate relationship both of these women develop over the course of the story. Set in Tokyo in the late nineteen seventies, our central character Yoriko Shindo is thrust immediately into an uncomfortable situation when she is beat up and kidnapped by the Naiki-kai, a branch of the Yakuza. All of her life Shindo has developed a reputation for being different to other typical women of Japan, with a more physical build and an open approach to violence when the need arises. ...
