"Disquieting and suspenseful."
--Kathryn Harrison, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Brilliant feminist noir. . . . Sleek, assured and disturbing. . . . Reads like "Little Women" in an acid bath. . . .You won't want to miss it."
--"The Plain Dealer"
"Transfixing. . . . Kirino touches on much deeper issues than unlocking teenage diaries. . . . A psychologically complex story told in a breezy, adolescent way, reminiscent of "Bonjour Tristesse.""
--"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
"Kirino demands total submission to her characters' inner lives. . . . [Real World] challenges readers to confront the truth of human nature, to release judgments about violence and see beyond the act to its roots."
--"The Miami Herald"
"Instead of one lone maniac, Kirino makes adolescent ennui and detachment the villain, tracing out a spooky cultural phenomenon that makes this new translation a purely psychological thriller."
--"Time Out Chicago"
"Jealousy, solipsism, fear, arrogance-the mind of an adolescent can be a frustrating and scary place. . . . [Real World] takes us deep inside the heads of these kids." --"Los Angeles Times Book Review"
"If "Real World" is indeed a work of social realism, Kirino is either a masterful cynic or the cartographer of a very scary side of reality."
--"The New York Sun"
"It's rare to come across a book that is unlike anything you've ever read. Real World""is such a book. . . . Kirino's mix of the savage and the mundane is masterful. . . . Hers is a fresh, contemporary voice that captures the attitude of youth culture around the world. . . . An addictive, compelling read."
--"Daily Camera" (Boulder)
"Disturbingly intimate. . . . [Kirino's characters] speak as one voice of youth in an utterly hypnotic, illuminating narrative."
--"Paste"
"A novel that looks at the emotional vacuum of teenage culture, one less affected by a brutal murder and its emo