Customer Reviews

Out: A Novel

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

a fantastic read. This book won the 51st Mystery Writers of Japan award. For me, this book is about finding yourself one day not sure about your life. Not sure you are happy, not sure you want to continue, either in the life you have or in life at all. This book is about being in that situation and making a decision, then making another, then another until you are not your previous self and all you can do is continue to make another decision. All these decisions are made for one reason. To get out. To get out of the relationship you are in, the job you are in, the family you are in, the life you are in.

Excellent writing, it's part mystery part suspense thriller, part crime drama. The story is about 4 women who band together and take on the situation they have created for themselves. At times it can be a bit preachy and a bit hating on males but that could just be because I'm a male.

I love this book and it's way of encapsulating you into the story and lives of these characters. They feel real, feel varied, and each decision feels logical. Logical in the sense that someone in that position could very well have made that decision.

buy it, read it, then read it again. It will be worth your time.

The condition was better than expected and everything is in order. Fast delivery also.
Then book is an amazing read and I would recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers!

Great psychological thriller and full of irony. It has all the appeal of a well-crafted murder mystery except there is no mystery as we have come to know it in the West. If so, what then rivets our attention, males and females alike? Perhaps it is the fact that Kirino sets out to prove in such a dispassionately gruesome and original fashion what men can do, women can do better: manipulate and destroy others and get a way with it. Her creation of compelling characters such as Satake and Masako and a fast-moving plot to go with them makes for both a satisfying and disturbing read. Good stuff!

Out is vivid and tense from beginning to end. Curious and surprising even though aware of the form. One of the best.

"Out" was first published in 1997 and won Japan's top mystery award. It is Natsuo Kirino's first novel to be translated into English. Set in Tokyo, it's centred around four women who work the nightshift in a boxed-lunch factory. The pay is good for a part-time job, but the work is far from rewarding, the hours aren't sociable and the chances for progression are limited. Unfortunately, their home lives aren't much better.

Yoshie is the most likeable of the four friends. She is nicknamed the Skipper since she is so hard-working and effectively runs the line the women work on. Yoshie's husband died from cirrhosis, leaving her to look after her family and mother-in-law - who'd suffered a stroke more than six years previously. She's finding it difficult to make ends meet : the insurance from her husband's death, and her own savings, have been spent - largely on looking after her mother-in-law. She is desperate for her daughter to receive a good education. Meanwhile, her landlord is talking about tearing down her dilapidated house, hoping to build a modern apartment block. Yoshie knows this will involve higher rents.

Kuniko is a different matter entirely. Vain and self-absorbed, she is a thoroughly dislikeable character. She lies about her age, drives an expensive, imported car and spends beyond her means on clothes. She had claimed to be married to her live-in boyfriend : sensibly, he blows town early in the book and carefully covers his tracks. Due to the money she spends on her image, she owes a fortune to a loan-shark.

At 34, Yayoi is the youngest and prettiest of the four friends. Kenji, her husband, had once pursued her relentlessly. However, once married, things changed dramatically. Kenji started spending more time away from home, drinking and gambling. Recently, he had been visiting two clubs in Kabuki-cho. In one, he had been spending a great deal of time (and money) in the company of a beautiful hostess. In the other, he'd lost a fortune at the baccarat tables - including the couple's savings. Eventually, after an argument, Yayoi's patience snaps and she strangles him. She then phones Masako : unsure what to do, she knows her colleague will help her.

Although the focus of the book switches from one character to another, Masako is essentially the book's central character. In her early forties, she is married and has one son. Down-to-earth, and more experienced than her colleagues, her three friends seem to rely on her in particular. The book opens and closes with her and, after Yayoi's confession, it is Masako who makes many of the key decisions.

Although Yayoi knew Kenji had blown a fortune, and suspected he'd been in a fight the night she killed him, she didn't know the full story. The clubs he'd been visiting were owned by Mitsuyoshi Satake who, in recent weeks, had come to view Kenji as a nuisance. Kenji was stalking his top hostess and was behind in his bill at 'Playground' (his illegal, after-hours, baccarat club). Eventually, Satake 'deals' with him, using a method that involved Kenji bouncing down a flight of stairs. Unfortunately for Satake, Yayoi's subsequent actions see him under investigation. With a past he'd rather hide, and in illegal club to protect, this is something he is far form pleased about.

A little grim in places, a bit depressing in others - although I found it a touch implausible at times. In particular, I couldn't understand Masako. I found it hard to believe, for example, she could be so detached with what was not only happening around her, but also to her. Nevertheless, "Out" is a very-well-written book and is easily read. Definitely recommended.

No need for me to give the short summary of the book again, others have done a great job doing that for me. I've enjoyed the book, that puts the reader into the lives of very believable characters in modern day Japan. It's well written, probably part due a very good translator. But I should make a note about the category the book is put into: a mystery novel. I can not understand this fits into this category. There's nothing of a mystery in this book. Everything is either obviously predictable, or just plain written before it happens. Nowhere in its 360 pages have I ever wondered "Mmmmm, what would happen next" or "who would be that misterious man". No, don't expect any suspense, thriller, or mistery. Just a plain, though bloody at some times, story. If you set that expectation, you'll have a lot of satisfaction reading it.

OUT by Natsuo Kirino (Kodosha, 2003)
OUT is one of those novels that without the award nomination (the Edgar Award for best novel), would never be brought to the attention of the mystery community in the US. The combination of the small press putting out a very very long translated book is often a formula for disaster. It is a tribute to the Edgar committee that they discovered this gem and gave it the recognition it so deserves.
OUT is the story of four women living in the Tokyo suburbs. What they have in common is that they all work the nightshift in a food packaging plant. All have very different but highly troubled lives. Masako Katori, separated from her husband and living with an alienated and troubled son is lonely and bored. Kuniko Jonouchi is in major trouble with loan sharks in that she insists on living well above her means. Yoshie Azuma, a widow stuck into the role of caretaker of an invalid mother-in-law has two troubled daughters and Yayoi Yamamoto living with two small children and saddled with an abusive husband who gambles away what precious little they have. All their lives get overturned when, in a fit of rage, Yayoi strangles her husband and asks Masako to dispose of the body. She agrees and with the help of the others, they must do all they can to avoid suspicion falling on themselves. This proves highly difficult when the loan sharks haunting Kuniko find out the truth.
Natsuo Kirino has written one of the most original works of the year. It is character rich with a plot so clever that in spite of the length, the pacing moves relatively rapidly. This is not a perfect work, however. Too much minutiae tends to get in the way of the story progression. Black humor takes over and might remind some readers of the tale of SWEENEY TODD. A major problem with this otherwise carefully written work is the suboptimal conclusion which is the most unrealistic part of the book and proves to be highly unsatisfying.

The story behind OUT is almost as interesting as the novel itself. OUT is the debut novel of Natsuo Kirino; published in 1998 in Japan, and garnering not only awards but also popular accolades, it has only recently seen publication here. Kirino has since gone on to become recognized as Japan's preeminent mystery novelist. Her second novel, SOFT CHEEKS, won the Naoki Prize for literature in 1999 and is scheduled for publication in the United States shortly. Aided by a fine translation by Stephen Snyder, OUT is a dark tale, occasionally relieved by grim humor that transcends cultural differences to tell a riveting story of revenge, betrayal and renewal.

OUT revolves around four women working in a food processing factory, preparing box lunches on an assembly line, performing physically challenging and mentally boring work while they struggle to stay financially and emotionally afloat. Masako Katori is perhaps the best off financially of the four, though she shares a household with a husband who is more like a distant brother and an uncommunicative teenage son who is, in his sullen silence, a total stranger. Yayoi Yamamoto is married to Kenji, an abusive layabout who fritters away his wife's salary and their meager savings in a clandestine baccarat room while showering a prostitute with unrequited love. Kuniko Jonouchi is kind of an odd duck in the group, all flash and no substance, living far beyond her means while she uses clothes and makeup as a quick fix for her physical and emotional unattractiveness. Yoshie Azuma, known as "Skipper" at the factory, is the oldest of the four and is perhaps the most trapped by circumstance. A widow, she is the sole support and caregiver of her invalid mother-in-law and poorly dispositioned teenage daughter.

The four women are dramatically brought together in a new way when Yamamoto, in a sudden fit of anger, murders Kenji. Yamamoto turns to Katori to dispose of the body. Katori, in turn, seeks the assistance of Azuma in doing so. Jonouchi is brought into the mix when she unexpectedly visits Katori while Katori and Azuma are in the process of preparing Yamamoto's diseased husband's body for disposal. Kirino does not flinch from graphic description, and OUT should by no means be mistaken for a "cozy." Kirino infuses the women with a sense of purpose, and while they bring a varying degree of dedication to the task at hand, each is able to bring enough frustration with her respective situation to the fore to get the job done.

It is only Yamamoto, whose act of passion was the catalyst for the conspiracy of concealment, who is ultimately unable to participate in the disposal of the body and who displays the most remorse. Janouchi's poor execution of her task results in Kenji's body --- or at least part of it --- being discovered. Satake, a psychotic mobster and owner of the baccarat club, which Kenji frequented, is suspected of the murder. Satake, although eventually cleared, loses everything and seeks revenge by attempting to target the real killer --- whom he suspects to be Yamamoto. His pursuit results in a catalytic ending that will leave the lives of the four women changed forever.

Kirino, as is the case with the best of mystery writers, combines a strong plot with a canny description of contemporary Japanese mores and culture to make this an unforgettable work. While OUT was initially slow to attract literary attention in the United States, the gradual critical attention and word of mouth that it has achieved will undoubtedly result in much-deserved popularity. This is a novel that will be shared, and discussed, for some time to come.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The book was a gift, selected for me because it was an award winning mystgery in Japan and a Staff Pick at our local bookstore.

Intelligently written mysteries are a favorite genre of mine, and this book is well-written with good charachter delineations and a plot that quite believeably winds up to its conclusion.

It was the first Japanese mystery I have read, and it had the added bonus of giving the reader some good insights into what like is life for those living in, trapped in, the underbelly of Modern Japan.

My only hesitation in recommending the book is that it is quite gruesome. At one point, fairly early on, I put the book aside, nont sure if I wanted to go on reading in. But I found myself compelled to go back to it to find out what happened to the characters I had already cared about.

Honestly I have never been a big fan of mystery novels. Not that I have anything against them, but I just have never read them. The only one in recent memory that I have read was Miyuki Miyabe's _All She was Worth_ which was a very enjoyable read. Now I have read this book, and let me say I was pretty creeped out without the contents within. The book starts out simply enough describing in mundane detail the daily lives of four women, Masako, Yayoi, Yoshie, and Kuniko, who work at a industry that assembles ready to eat meals. Kuniko is an overweight flashy woman with expensive tastes who also suffers from very low self esteem. Yoshie, called the Skipper because of her hard work ethic, is a long suffering mother of two rebelious girls and the daughter in law of bed ridden woman. Her life is completely dedicated to taking care of others. Yayoi is the beautiful wife of Kenji Yamamoto a man who use to be very affectionate to her, but who has recently fallen for a bar hostess and become addicted to gambling. Then there is Masako a tall, thin 43 year old woman who hides her bitter past from her friends and endures a distant husband and a mute by choice son at home. She is, however, a lady of steel.

Kirino has created an interesting ensemble of characters that the reader can easily identify with. Characters that the reader will both love and pity and readers that s/he will completely loathe. A wonderful book, but please have a strong stomach before you read it. Kirino is quite a graphic writer describing such things as dismemberment and rape. You have been warned...