This was the 2011 book that took me further away from my comfort zone. I don’t usually read thrillers and never once picked up an Asian thriller, although I know they have a great following.
Four women work the graveyard shift at a lunch box filling factory in Tokyo’s outskirts. Their jobs are back-breaking and repetitive, their families universally unloving and their futures equally bleak. One of the women accidentally kills her husband after he becomes abusive and the other three are drawn into the effort to hide the crime. When the police arrests a local club owner with connections to prostitution, the women hope it’ll be the end of it, but they hope in vain.
There is no redemption in Out. Everything from the story to the description of suburban Tokyo is unrelentingly bleak and unforgiving. There is not one likable character or one moment of sunshine. Kirino creates her story almost surgically, and every sentence seem to add another layer to the dark mood of the book.
Quite a lot happens, so why did it feel like the story developed slowly? Not slow as in boring, more the slowness of the lethargic lives these women lead. There’s not much humanity in any of the characters and everyone is racist, opportunistic and all men are misogynistic. Don’t be mislead by the plot about three women helping a fourth out of trouble, as there’s also no friendship in Out, no one loves or does any good to others, either to friends or family.
I’ve read in several places that the book is a commentary to women’s place in Japanese society, and can see the point: the numbing of feelings and consequent loss of humanity caused by sexism, ageism and a huge stress of physical appearance. My problem as a reader was that I also became numb to the character’s plight (was it the author’s intention? If it was, it’s brilliantly done!).
None of these four women cared, so I was never terribly interested in what happened to any of them either. For instance, at some point we are told that Masako was treated horribly by her previous employers, mostly because she was a woman and good at her job. In normal circumstances I’d have boiled, but I was kind of bored by yet another proof that life is unfair and nothing you can do will ever change it.
Was also surprised by the innumerable references to looks (or lack of them). At first I put it down as a criticism of the objectification of women, but they came up so often that after a while they felt less like a social commentary and more like the expression of Kirin’s actual way of thinking and looking at people (again, if she’s demonstrating how she’s also influenced by her own misogynistic culture, it’s perfectly accomplished!). The same with the ending: the sadomasochism bit felt gratuitous and only there to unsubtly increase the grimness of it all. But, disclaimer: it’s likely that’s just me getting influenced by the unforgiving feeling of the book.
Reading Out was my attempt at eating silk-worm cocoons in China a couple of summers ago: I’m glad I did it for the experience, but I’m not sure I’d like to do it again.
***
Other thoughts: Tip of the Iceberg, Leeswammes, Mysteries in Paradise, A Book Sanctuary, Musings of a Bookish Kitten, Farm Lane Books, another cookie crumbles, Novel Insights, Book Magic, Piling on the Books, Book Chase, It’s all about me (time), Dolce Bellezza (yours?)
11 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 13, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Patty
that’s interesting – I would immediately have imagined that Asian horror stories would keep me awake at night… shame…
January 13, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Bellezza
It’s interesting to me that you didn’t like this book. I personally loved it, but I think you have very valid reasons as to why it didn’t work for you. Perhaps one of the things I liked best about it was the way it pointed out a woman’s life in the Japanese culture, although you couldn’t say it is true for all of them. (My review is here.)
January 13, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Larissa
The cover is creepy!
It seems like an interesting book nonetheless, but I admit I don’t feel drown to the book after your review – but I’m not a big fan of thrillers in the first place.
January 13, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Steph
I haven’t read any Asian thrillers either, but I found your musings on this book really interesting, in part because they seem very similar to the way I’ve felt about the Scandinavian/Swedish crime novels I’ve tried in the past. I’ve heard some really good things about this book in the past, but I can’t help but think I’d probably have a very similar reaction to it that you have!
January 13, 2012 at 11:24 pm
farmlanebooks
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this one. I’m another lover of it. You are right that it is hard to care for any of the characters and that normally bothers me a lot, but there was something about the way it was written that made me want to find out what happened to them. I guess I didn’t really care if they were caught or not, but the momentum of the plot and the twists and turns had me gripped.
I also loved all the ideas it throwed up. Would I be prepared to help a friend dispose of a body? Is it a lesser crime to kill in order to get out of domestic violence? I know it is a bit dark, but I liked it that way. At least you’re glad you’ve experienced it and are now free to avoid all her other books. 🙂
January 14, 2012 at 1:27 am
Tony
I read a lot of Japanese fiction, but I’ve always stayed away from this kind of book (and I don’t regret it!). There’s a whole raft of darker J-Lit stuff out there – Ryu Murakami is another writer who comes to mind -, but I’ll stick to the more aesthetically-pleasing classics 🙂
January 14, 2012 at 2:57 am
Diane@BibliophileBytheSea
This one has been on my shelf unread for a while, and I’m curious what my take would be?? Thanks for an honest review…leaves me curious.
January 14, 2012 at 8:42 pm
Tracey
I found the style of it quite unusual and and a bit disjointed at first so can understand what you mean about the characters not caring etc. It certainly has a tone that I hadn’t read before but I was glued to it after a few chapters. I also found it quite grisly!
January 15, 2012 at 6:50 am
Rowena E
This book sounds grim, but have got The Devotion of Suspect X, by Keigo Higashino. It is a much more nuanced portrait of life and relationships in Japan. It’s also a great mystery.
January 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar « The Sleepless Reader
[…] next generations of Indian women will still be doomed to the careless whims of men. However, unlike Out (which I read just before), although there is no redemption in The Space Between Us, there is […]
January 17, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Joanna
ha ha, at least you did it! It’s great to read something out of your comfort zone, isn’t it? I’m glad you considered it a positive experience, even if you didn’t love the book. 🙂