--- product_id: 10791034 title: "Real World (Vintage International)" price: "£11.31" currency: GBP in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/10791034-real-world-vintage-international store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # Real World (Vintage International) **Price:** £11.31 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Real World (Vintage International) - **How much does it cost?** £11.31 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/10791034-real-world-vintage-international) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Real World (Vintage International) [Kirino, Natsuo] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Real World (Vintage International) Review: Existential turmoil among Japanese high-school kids - Real World is an amazing look inside the world of teenagers. The setting is Japan, with its cram schools and unique academic pressures, but the psychology of the kids is probably not that different from American kids of well-off parents. High school is full of cliques (bookworms, nerds, Barbie Girls, jocks, club-goers), and the kids feel like a different species from parents and teachers. This story focuses on four girls who form their own clique based on nothing more than their close friendship. Purely by chance they get involved in the plight of a high school boy who just killed his mother. What fascinated me was how little the girls trust the adult world, which they see as rotten and hypocritical. They can be more communicative with a teenaged murderer than with any adult. Naturally enough, the games they are playing with the fugitive boy murderer turn dangerous — but in unexpected ways. Contemporary Japanese novels have an edgy quality that is something of an acquired taste. There is nothing quite like them in Western fiction. Matsumoto Kirino writes a gripping story. I always enjoy her books. The way the narrative alternates between characters gives a sensitive and very realistic portrait of each teenager. The real world keeps shifting shape for these young people — and maybe a little for the reader... Review: Darkness of the Heart - Natsuo Kirino's "Real World" is a Japanese coming-of-age story with sobering twists. She has structured her narrative as a relay race between the major players: each character takes her or his turn from the first-person perspective describing the ongoing action, discussing their thoughts and motivations, and revealing their not-so-pretty histories. The high school girls of "Real World", though markedly different individually, have a few things in common. They worry about school. They talk about relationships. They all think they are hiding something from each other when in fact their fears, flaws, and sexual practices are all too obvious to their peers. Above everything else, they loathe their parents. Therefore it is not surprising that, when a teenage boy outside their circle goes on the run after being accused of murdering his mother, their reaction is initially one of empathy and fascination rather than repulsion. Their decisions to help him cover his tracks, and subsequently protect each other, have ramifications that will last for the rest of their lives. The result is an engaging character study of Japanese teenagers facing the pressures of Japanese society - observing familial obligations, meeting cram school demands, avoiding perverts on the train - and suddenly being confronted with a situation none of them has the maturity to handle. Particularly interesting is Kirino's portrait of the teenage boy as the fugitive whose grip on reality unravels before our eyes. I have two objections to the novel. The first is one of authenticity: although externally the girls exhibited differences (one is smart, one is a lesbian, one is a slut, and so on), their internal monologues were painfully similar, so much so that I was constantly losing my suspension of disbelief. This gave rise to my second objection: I frequently wanted to yell, "You idiot!" to the particular narrator at various points of the novel. Dealing with teenagers, this might be expected, but the similarity between their voices, and hence the lack of individual 'reasoning' when it came to decision-making, made me frustrated with these female anti-heroes. Still, I remained attached to the book until the very end. I would recommend "Real World" specifically to those readers who have an interest in modern Japanese culture. Based on other sources, I think the environment Kirino describes is accurate, and the struggles faced by teenagers there realistic and reflected in her writing. As to whether she does justice to her characters, or if they are merely facets of herself projected into different situations, is a little harder to tell. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #695,077 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #3,372 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #5,731 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #6,668 in Suspense Thrillers | | Customer Reviews | 4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars (437) | | Dimensions | 8 x 5.28 x 0.66 inches | | Edition | Reprint | | ISBN-10 | 0307387488 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0307387486 | | Item Weight | 8 ounces | | Language | English | | Print length | 208 pages | | Publication date | July 14, 2009 | | Publisher | Vintage | ## Images ![Real World (Vintage International) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61rF9q4pdAL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Existential turmoil among Japanese high-school kids *by P***O on December 3, 2017* Real World is an amazing look inside the world of teenagers. The setting is Japan, with its cram schools and unique academic pressures, but the psychology of the kids is probably not that different from American kids of well-off parents. High school is full of cliques (bookworms, nerds, Barbie Girls, jocks, club-goers), and the kids feel like a different species from parents and teachers. This story focuses on four girls who form their own clique based on nothing more than their close friendship. Purely by chance they get involved in the plight of a high school boy who just killed his mother. What fascinated me was how little the girls trust the adult world, which they see as rotten and hypocritical. They can be more communicative with a teenaged murderer than with any adult. Naturally enough, the games they are playing with the fugitive boy murderer turn dangerous — but in unexpected ways. Contemporary Japanese novels have an edgy quality that is something of an acquired taste. There is nothing quite like them in Western fiction. Matsumoto Kirino writes a gripping story. I always enjoy her books. The way the narrative alternates between characters gives a sensitive and very realistic portrait of each teenager. The real world keeps shifting shape for these young people — and maybe a little for the reader... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Darkness of the Heart *by R***S on July 18, 2008* Natsuo Kirino's "Real World" is a Japanese coming-of-age story with sobering twists. She has structured her narrative as a relay race between the major players: each character takes her or his turn from the first-person perspective describing the ongoing action, discussing their thoughts and motivations, and revealing their not-so-pretty histories. The high school girls of "Real World", though markedly different individually, have a few things in common. They worry about school. They talk about relationships. They all think they are hiding something from each other when in fact their fears, flaws, and sexual practices are all too obvious to their peers. Above everything else, they loathe their parents. Therefore it is not surprising that, when a teenage boy outside their circle goes on the run after being accused of murdering his mother, their reaction is initially one of empathy and fascination rather than repulsion. Their decisions to help him cover his tracks, and subsequently protect each other, have ramifications that will last for the rest of their lives. The result is an engaging character study of Japanese teenagers facing the pressures of Japanese society - observing familial obligations, meeting cram school demands, avoiding perverts on the train - and suddenly being confronted with a situation none of them has the maturity to handle. Particularly interesting is Kirino's portrait of the teenage boy as the fugitive whose grip on reality unravels before our eyes. I have two objections to the novel. The first is one of authenticity: although externally the girls exhibited differences (one is smart, one is a lesbian, one is a slut, and so on), their internal monologues were painfully similar, so much so that I was constantly losing my suspension of disbelief. This gave rise to my second objection: I frequently wanted to yell, "You idiot!" to the particular narrator at various points of the novel. Dealing with teenagers, this might be expected, but the similarity between their voices, and hence the lack of individual 'reasoning' when it came to decision-making, made me frustrated with these female anti-heroes. Still, I remained attached to the book until the very end. I would recommend "Real World" specifically to those readers who have an interest in modern Japanese culture. Based on other sources, I think the environment Kirino describes is accurate, and the struggles faced by teenagers there realistic and reflected in her writing. As to whether she does justice to her characters, or if they are merely facets of herself projected into different situations, is a little harder to tell. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Girl bitching *by J***K on October 6, 2008* This is a very, very japanese girl talk and japanese world happening: japanese youth has a very difficult time between school and real life. This causes endless soul searching and distress for girls - on one side they try to conform to japanese society expectations and on the other hand they relate to occidental desires, female autonomy and so on. The book tires after the first 50 pages and the final is obvious. It's worth reading as a sociology light treatise. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/10791034-real-world-vintage-international](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/10791034-real-world-vintage-international) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-05-26*