Customer Reviews

Out: A Novel

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

 

 

I was entertained and drawn into the very dark and bizzar world these "fine" ladies found themselves a part of from the very beginning.

I loved the way Kirino took a lot of twists and turns through out the book making me say to myself..."I can't believe what just happened" .. I don't think I have read anything with this much characture in along time.

I am a HUGE FAN of Kirino Natsuo!! I always thought that it was really sad that I could not share her books with my friends who cannot read Japanese. But hey, here is her book in English! Bravo! Her descriptions of characters and backgrounds are incredibly real and vivid since they are most of the times inspired by the real people on the real problems of Japanese society. Her analysis over those problematic situations is always deep and critical so that it often shocks you by revealing the painful reality and the drama underneath our everyday life. In her books, reality does not byte, but stabs. So, if you are ready to be shocked and stabbed by the undeniable reality, I would recommend her books to you, but if not, you'd better stay away from them because you'll see what you don't want to see. Anyways, I love her books. "Gyokuran" is actually my favorite book. Hopefully, that one will be translated and brought to American fans soon, too.

I was drawn into it's web, and very much enjoyed the intricate weave the author spun. Not for children, it's a look into a lives of everyday, weathered people, unsure of their place in their world and struggling to find one.

Masako, Yayoi, Yoshie, and Kumiko work the night shift at a boxed lunch factory in a characterless Tokyo suburb. Each has her reason for working at night and earning a little extra money: Masako's husband and son have grown so distant that she finds it less painful to be away from them as much as possible. Yayoi has small children and a spendthrift husband. Widowed Yoshie cares for an invalid mother-in-law and a teen daughter in the throes of rebellion, and young Kumiko's taste for luxury has put her deep in debt. They are ordinary women living in a dull suburb with boring jobs and dead-end lives who manage to find the gallows humor in their situation.. Yet before Out is over, one of them will have murdered her husband, two will embark on a sickening business venture, and one will be dead.

Author Natsuo Kirino won Japan's top mystery award for this novel, which smashes the perception of Japan as a society of either anal, work-focused drones or trendy Ginza teens. These women live surprisingly close to the underworld, and they find that violence and seedy glamour are closer than they think. "Out" is dark, violent, and psychologically astute--the very definition of noir. This is Kirino's first book to appear in English, and apparently her other award-winner will be published in English soon. This novel is highly recommended for readers who like to explore the dark side of a different culture.

this opens up so many vistas I failed to observe during my time there. Truly a "Thelma & Louise" story of the brutality of men towards women in Japanese society, the book says even more about the day to day struggles of the "every" Japanese.

Masako, Yayoi, Yoshie, and Kumiko work the night shift at a boxed lunch factory in a characterless Tokyo suburb. Each has her reason for working at night and earning a little extra money: Masako's husband and son have grown so distant that she finds it less painful to be away from them as much as possible. Yayoi has small children and a spendthrift husband. Widowed Yoshie cares for an invalid mother-in-law and a teen daughter in the throes of rebellion, and young Kumiko's taste for luxury has put her deep in debt. They are ordinary women living in a dull suburb with boring jobs and dead-end lives who manage to find the gallows humor in their situation.. Yet before Out is over, one of them will have murdered her husband, two will embark on a sickening business venture, and one will be dead.

Author Natsuo Kirino won Japan's top mystery award for this novel, which smashes the perception of Japan as a society of either work-focused drones or trendy Ginza teens. These women live surprisingly close to the underworld, and they find that violence and seedy glamour are closer than they think. "Out" is dark, violent, and psychologically astute--the very definition of noir. This is Kirino's first book to appear in English, and apparently her other award-winner will be published in English soon. This novel is highly recommended for readers who like to explore the dark side of a different culture.

The book is well-translated but the story is predictably boring.
It's so obvious to me that the author is just trying to shock the readers by writing something unusually gruesome. This is just an old trick. Come on! Can you be a little more
original?

A bunch of housewives getting together to kill someone and writing about them in gory detail is not creative. This is a novel for beginners.