BOOKWORM

BOOK REVIEW . Natsuo Kirino’s Out

How far would you go to help a friend in trouble? A good friend, mind you. Not just the person you trade bitchings with at work. Say this person had killed someone in the heat of passion. Would you help them? And, if you did, what would be the repercussions? Well, that’s exactly the topic of Out, Natsuo Kirino’s feminist themed murder thriller cum commentary on contemporary Japanse society. A group of women working the night shift at a Japanese box lunch factory aid their friend in covering up the murder of her abusive husband, handling all the grisly work of chopping up the body into easily portable, and thus disposable, pieces. As the title suggests (a reference to Macbeth) things don’t stop with the disposal. Human greed, jealousy, pride, laziness, and self-delusion complicate matters far more than any of the involved parties could ever expect, and dire consequences arise, affecting even those far outside of their conspiratorial circle.

I know, I know, I’m being vague, but hey, I don’t want to spoil the fun. At a mere four-hundred pages, Natsuo Kirino’s novel is refreshingly lean, without a single ounce of expository excess or redundancy, and chugs along smoothly form start to finish. The narrative is firmly grounded in reality, and every character, from the despicable Kuniko to the frighteningly fascinating Masako, is so well developed you can’t help but feel as if you know these characters in the flesh. As noted above, Kirino also expertly weaves her views of Japanese society, from the hardships experienced by foreign born nationals to the jealousy and distrust of strong, intelligent, non-deferential female in the corporate workplace, and the glass ceiling preventing their advancement. Then there’s the objectification of women, age discrimination, addiction to consumerism, loneliness, hatred, and more. Although the book is billed as being quite shocking, nothing in it will really phase those that have read Ellis’s American Psycho and the like. But, all in all, Out is a surprisingly literate addition to the thriller genre, and should satisfy those looking for something with more substance than the average Alex Cross novel. I myself am now looking forward to Vintage’s forthcoming translations of some of Kirino’s other work.

About the Author:

Chris Nelson is a rabid reader, usually tackling three books at once. His favorite authors include Kobo Abe, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Haruki Murakami. He is currently reading Secret Rendezvous, by Abe, The Big Bang, by Simon Singh, and Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson.