Jennifer Lee

“This society hasn't changed one bit. People who don't fit into the village are expelled: men who don't hunt, women who don't give birth to children. For all we talk about modern society and individualism, anyone who doesn't try to fit in can expect to be meddled with, coerced, and ultimately banished from the village.”
― Sayaka Murata, コンビニ人間 [Konbini ningen]

“In principle, all women should give themselves permission to demand good treatment, but the world made doing so profoundly difficult”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

“What you need above all is strength . . . A fighting spirit that can withstand the tedium of everyday life without getting blunted by it.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

“Don't you think that's a disease of the contemporary age? It feels like these days our value is determined by how much effort we make from day to day. That matters even more than our results. After a while, the concept of effort starts to become mixed up with things feeling difficult, and then you reach the point where the person seen as the most admirable is the one suffering the most. I think that's the reason people are so vicious towards Manako Kajii. She refuses to live that life, refuses to suffer.”
― Asako Yuzuki, Butter