I started reading this book and found that it was not for me. I didn't want to review a book that I didn't finish.

A pretty quick and engaging read. From the very beginning there is something very off about our narrator in which they seem to be stalking the Woman in the Purple Skirt for no other reason than that they find her interesting. While the story itself is intriguing, it takes a little bit to get going but when it does it's a very compelling tale.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this title by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. While this book had an interesting premise and some compelling plot points, as a whole I felt it was a little simplistic and flat.

Every day at the same time, the woman in the purple skirt, goes to the park, sits on her Exclusively Reserved Seat, and eats a cream bun out of a white paper bag, while the children in the park make fun of her.The narrator of the book, the woman in the yellow cardigan, observes her, as she is curious who she is, and why she is doing what she is doing. The woman in the purple skirt lives in a run down apartment, looks like a schoolgirl while she is older, and is single. The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan lures her to a job, after she tried to make friends with her, where she herself works, as a hotel housekeeper, where she learns more about her background and life, which results in some crazy moments in both their professional lives. soon the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss. Unfortunately, no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That's the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt.
I am still not sure what to think about this book, it's story and what it was telling its reader. It was nice and strange at the same time. The woman in the yellow cardigan was clearly obsessed and stalking the woman in the purple skirt. You can ask yourself why. (we also don't get to know who the yellow cardigan lady is and what her name is). Nothing really spectacular happened and I expected quite some interesting thinks about Miss purple skirt, there was nothing really spectacular revealed about her, and during the book I kept wondering who really was the strange outcast, the purple skirt or the yellow cardigan woman or both?

It is just a bit of a strangely weird stort, that also explores the dark side of loneliness leading on to obsession and the depths one can go to, owing to the desperate need for friendship and a companion. But it just missed something.

There is a growing interest in a behavioral phenomenon the Internet has dubbed “main character syndrome”. Whether motivated by narcissism or a healthy sense of self-worth, some people live as though they were the hero in a fictional story and interact with the world around them as though they were its center. The narrator of The Woman in the Purple Skirt is not one of these people. She barely sees herself as a character at all.

Natsuko Imamura’s narrator, who calls herself the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, is childish, naïve, and unreliable. But she is no Scout Finch, telling her brother’s story as one of its central figures; Yellow Cardigan is a nonentity who traverses the pages of the novel almost like a haunting specter.

More at Asian Review of Books

There's a nuance missing in the Japanese literary fiction translations, isn't there? This book and THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS AN EASY JOB both hit the right note in terms of plot summary, but the translations do the female protagonists no favors. There's too many phrases and terms that translated just badly. It's hard to put a name on it. I really wanted to like this book but I would get distracted by what I felt was an inauthentic lost-in-translation translation.

The Woman in the Purple Skirt is an intriguing figure with whom the narrator becomes fixated on to the point of stalking.

A delectably weird little bonbon of a book. Immediately unsettling, pulling dread from thin air, and happy to leave you with plenty of unanswered questions. If you haven't read much modern Japanese fiction in translation, now is a great time to start as we're getting all kinds of interesting books these days.

This is a book about obsession, you can certainly see the ways in which it's similar to a lot of the domestic thrillers coming out these days, where one woman becomes obsessed with another. But it's also a book where not much happens outside of one woman (our narrator, the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan) watching another (the titular Woman in the Purple Skirt). Just watching, just noting, and yet, as you get deeper into the book you have less questions about the woman being observed and many more about the woman doing the observing.

Even though a lot of the time not much happens, you keep wondering what will happen. It's an impressive tightrope walk, meticulously done with a smart ending to boot. Less "quirky" than Convenience Store Woman but mor

I have a keen fascination with Japanese literature, primarily because the stories are so odd, yet simply written. So when I learned about the upcoming English translation of Natsuko Imamura's The Woman in the Purple Skirt, I had to promptly read it.

This novel tells the story of two women known to readers as "The Woman in the Purple Skirt" and "The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan." To put it simply, the woman in purple is being stalked by the woman in yellow. The woman in yellow is obsessed with the woman in purple, learning her schedule and habits, and following her everywhere around town, even as she goes to and from home and work. The woman in yellow finds ways to purposely run into the woman in purple, and even deceptively persuades her to take a job at the hotel where she works. Wherever The Woman in the Purple Skirt goes, The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan is watching. This book follows the woman in purple's every move, told through the ever-probing eyes of the woman in yellow. We learn all about the woman in purple's life - what she does for fun, what she enjoys eating, how she behaves at work - but practically nothing about the woman in yellow. What is The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan's motives, and just who is she?

The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a short, pithy novel of the voyeuristic variety. This book is weird and unnerving, and will make readers guess at The Woman in the Yellow Cardigan's reasons for stalking The Woman in the Purple Skirt. However, some readers of the novel may feel cheated by the book's ending, as the pay-off is not strong. It wraps up in a fairly predictable manner, which may be disappointing to some after following this tale through its twists and turns. This book with most appeal to readers who enjoy Japanese literature, and those who like books that are odd, yet simple.