- Name: Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror
- Author: Junji Ito
- Genre: Fiction/Japanese Manga
- Book Post No. : 55
- What is it about? : ‘Uzumaki’ is a Japanese horror manga (graphic novel) from the legendary Junji Ito. “Uzumaki’ means spiral. The story revolves around the appearance of spirals in a small seaside town in Japan and the madness and chaos which ensue soon after. Its a collection of chapters, each, exploring the different ways the spirals affect the people of the town. The protagonist is a girl names Kirie around which all the stories are centered.
- How I came to read it? : The same colleague who suggested and lent me her copy of ‘We are where the nighmares go‘ suggested this book to me. I, then, borrowed it from my local library.
- Did I like it?: Loved it! I had never read a Japanese Manga before and this was my first. I was simply blown away from the artwork by Junji Ito. Its stunning! The story itself is not exactly my type of horror, as most of the horror is around body horror, but this was absorbing. Like the spirals of the story itself the book draws you in and compels you to get to the end.
The story starts off with the appearance of one small spiral on a wall but soon turns into something absolutely nightmarish. The Lovecraft influence is clearly visible by the end. But the clearly the highlight of the book are the visuals. It has some of the most horrific horror imagery I have seen anywhere. The kind of images that will stay in your mind long after you finish the book. Definitely not for the squeamish. The chapter about the lighthouse was my favorite of all.
I especially liked the character of Kirie, the protagonist. She is kind, brave and courageous. She tries to protect her family and boyfriend till the very end. Other characters are not so fleshed out that they leave much of an impact except perhaps Shuichi who is one of the first characters who seems to get an inkling that their town is in trouble.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience of reading this manga and I plan to pick up other books by Junji Ito soon. I like to think this is the beginning of Phase 3 of my horror journey. Phase 1 was in school when I used to read classic horror stories many of which were set in the Victorian era. Then Phase 2 was I started reading H.P. Lovecraft much later during my first couple of jobs after which I really didn’t try anything new until now. I am thankful to my colleague who suggested this book. I am exited to be standing at the precipice of another exciting journey into a new realm of horror.
- Positives: I like to skip this section for some books esp. iconic fiction books.
- Negatives: Same here.
- Any other personal notes, observations, fun facts etc.:
Source of the book: Fraser Valley Regional Library.
I did not know that Japanese books read from right to left. Although I am familiar with reading from right to left because of Arabic, I had never read any other work this way.
Another frame from the book that I absolutely loved:
