Kyôko Okazaki

Another book sent to me by Library Journal that I probably would not have picked up on my own. It was pretty graphically sexual for me, but still managed to be charming and funny and made me think. The premise in itself was hard to resist... a girl who has to prostitute herself to feed her pet crocodile? Wow.

Okazaki says in her afterword that "All work is prostitution," but that it is also "love." It made me contemplate whether Okazaki meant that we're all "prostituting" ourselves in a way when we work (i.e. working so that we can get money to live on). I'm not sure if I agree, though, that "work is prostitution" when we're actually doing something we love. Maybe it's a Japanese cultural thing from that time that I'm not understanding--like work is prostitution, but doing one's duty to society is a labor of love? Or that even doing what you love to make money is selling yourself out, in a way? I don't necessarily agree with those thoughts, but there are lots of things to think about here.… (more)