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Overview
Nothing in Japanese literature prepares us for the stark, tension-filled, plot-driven realism of Natsuo Kirino’s award-winning literary mystery Out.
This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The coolly intelligent Masako emerges as the plot’s ringleader, but quickly discovers that this killing is merely the beginning, as it leads to a terrifying foray into the violent underbelly of Japanese society.
At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch-black comedy of gender warfare, Out is also a moving evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds, and the friendships that bolster them in the aftermath.
A masterpiece in this genre—Prize jury, Mystery Writers of Japan
Synopsis
La reina actual del crimen japonés.
Masako, Kuniko, Yoshie y Yayoi trabajan en el turno nocturno de una fábrica de comida preparada de los suburbios de Tokio. Todas tienen graves problemas tanto de dinero como familiares (maridos infieles, suegras discapacitadas o hijos imposibles) y se desenvuelven en una atmósfera hostil e inhóspita. En el caso de Yayoi desemboca en el asesinato de su marido cuando éste la agrede físicamente. Masako la ayudará a deshacerse del cuerpo, ingrata tarea para la que contarán con la ayuda de las otras dos compañeras de trabajo, Kuniko y Yoshie. Juntas descuartizarán el cadáver y lo desperdigarán por varios puntos de Tokio. La policía sospecha de ellas pero todavía no tienen pruebas. Mientras tanto, un prestamista vinculado a los yakuza chantajea a las mujeres para que se ocupen de más cadáveres.Out causó una gran conmoción en Japón y donde ha sido galardonada con el Gran Premio de Escritores de Misterio.
Black Book
A daring account of empowered Japanese women, and just too damn macabre to discount.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New WritersWith volcanic urgency, Kirino's story erupts onto the page with a searing heat, flowing like lava to a remarkable finish. Facing the daily burdens of slavish work conditions, stale marriages, and a society refusing to show them a proper respect, the women on the nightshift at a suburban Tokyo factory are all looking for one thing -- a way out. When pretty young Yayoi takes a beating from her deadbeat husband, her coworkers do little more than help their friend keep pace with the line. But a new kind of sisterhood emerges when Yayoi requires assistance in disposing of her dead husband's body.
Masako Katori emerges as a tenaciously determined leader in the dangerous cover-up, and with the others, provides readers with a disturbing vision of the lengths a human mind will travel in its quest for freedom. For Kirino's women aren't ruthless murderers; they're hardworking housewives with dignity, desperate for respect.
Discover rarely selects a mystery novel for our literary distinction, but unlike more formulaic crime novels, Kirino's work travels outside the boundaries of category fiction and gets under the skin. It's rare when a novel is so well rendered, so reaching in scope, and so thematically relevant that it surpasses its genre and demands a wider readership. Out does that and more. (Fall 2003 Selection)