This post is part of the Japanese Fiction Week, hosted here.For more information about the week, head over here.
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Please welcome Nina from Death, Books and Tea for a review of Out by Natsuo Kirino.
Masako, Yoshie,Kuniko and Yayoi are four women working the night shift at a boxed lunchfactory. Each have no prospects, and all want to escape. Yayoi is the one whocracks, killing her gambling husband. She turns to Masako, who gets Yoshie andKuniko to help cut up the body. When the police come looking, all four havesomething to hide. But they've also got other enemies who want things-Satake,the night club owner with past convictions putting him at number one suspect, andJumonji, the loan shark who knows what they did. With these people, the police,and the things they're being asked to do, the four women can't really thinkabout getting out.
I am so gladthat I decided to read this on holiday-hours of time to just sit and read andsee this intricate story develop. I know I'm reviewing this for Japanese YAweek, but this cannot be classed as YA. Sex, rape and murder feature heavilyand the characters are at the youngest a twenty year old hostess. So now we've establishedthis as being not for younger readers (something I found out a little late), onwith the main review.
The only thingthat I really disliked was the very final rape. Although it added a bit ofcontinuity to the story, it was just a little too much. The other gore, rapeand violence was used as plot development. But that was rape for the sake ofrape. The start was a little slow. It just seemed to follow their normal lives,which I understand is useful, but it was a bit boring. Around the 50 page mark,the husband is murdered. And it goes quite fast from there.
All the maincharacter's personal stories are fully developed both before and during themain action. It's difficult for me, as a teenager at school, to get into the mindsof women and men in their thirties upwards. But it was really easy for me tounderstand their thinking.
The thing thatgot to me was how easily the women lied while being questioned by the policeafter the murder took place. For it to have been about a week since she killeda man, she lies, fakes tears, and gets on so easily that you wonder about thegirl you were introduced to and how she was changed so much by desperation. Masakoespecially is a very intriguing character. I liked reading about her, seeingwhat she'd decide next, and so on. She was definitely changed by the murder.
The quick paceand the style of the translation kept me reading. It's also reallyunpredictable, with some things crossing your mind as you read. They're so meanto the characters that you wonder if they really will happen. Then you dismissit. And then it happens.
Strength 5 tea(or 5/5) to a gritty look at the backside of Japan, the ordinary people livingthere, and the depths of the human psyche.
Thanks for hosting this awesome event!
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It sounds pretty awesome - I'm really looking forward reading it!
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