Out

"From midnight until five-thirty without a break, she had to stand at the conveyor belt making boxed lunches. For a part-time job, the pay was good, but the work was backbreaking. More than once, when she was feeling unwell, she'd stopped here in the parking lot by the thought of the hard shift ahead. But this was different, this feeling of aimlessness. As she always did at this moment, she lit a cigarette, but tonight she realized for the first time that she did it to cover the smell of the factory."
~Out, Natsuo Kirino

Ordinary housewives by day, Masako Katori, Kuniko Jonouchi, Yoshie Azuma, and Yayoi Yamamoto are graveyard shift workers at a boxed lunch factory in Tokyo suburb at night. Published in 1997, Out by Natsuo Kirino (translated by Stephen Snyder) won the Grand Prix for Crime Fiction in Japan in 1998, and is the story of these four women.

For various reasons, Masako, Kuniko, Yoshie, and Yayoi work the night shift at the factory. After one of them suddenly kills her abusive husband, the other women help her, and begin their descent into Japan's dark underworld. Although humorous at times, the novel explores the relationships between these women, and paints a dark portrait of marriage and family life. The author brings these characters and others to life through her use of detail and understanding of personality and psychology. This novel emphasizes the role of appearance for women (and for men, to a lesser extent). Appearance seems to determine the jobs that they get, as well as the way they're treated by others. Yayoi is bullied at work by some of the other women for being too attractive, but she is also protected to an extent by Masako. (There's a lot more I could say here--I am barely scratching the surface.)

Out is an unbelievably engaging thriller. Crime fiction isn't my usual genre, but once I started reading it, I was hooked and couldn't put it down. The images conjured up in this book are vivid and haunting, and some are quite horrific. I envisioned the workers walking part of the way to the factory during the damp, shadowy nights, and much more gruesome scenes. This is a story I won't be able to forget!

I read Out for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge 4, hosted by Dolce Bellezza. Previously I read and reviewed Real World, also written by Natsuo Kirino. I don't think I'll read Kirino's Grotesque, though, because I think I'd find it too disturbing.

For other reviews of Out, please visit Dolce Bellezza and The Reading Life.

Real World

Now that autumn is here, I long to stay inside in the cool evenings, sip warmed apple cider, wrap myself in a throw, and read a sweet, comforting book.

Instead, I read about murder, violence, sexuality, and alienation.

These are some of the themes in Real World, a dark tale about Japanese teenagers living in a suburb of Tokyo. Written by Natsuo Kirino, published in 2003, and translated into English by Philip Gabriel in 2008, this short novel tells the story of four teenage girls, Toshi, Terauchi, Yuzan, and Kirarin, and a boy called Worm. Each resents society and their parents and has something to hide. When Toshi's neighbor, Worm, goes on the run after being suspected of matricide, the girls initially react with empathy and even fascination, rather than repulsion or fear. They are quickly drawn into Worm's world, and I was also pulled in. In this modern Japanese novel, multiple voices tell the story; each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the teenagers in this group. They take turns and each character describes the action as well as their thoughts and histories.

This is a chilling book for several reasons. These teenagers seem to be okay on the outside, and some even do well in "cram school", but they're all wearing masks which hide their true feelings and identities (some even have changed their names). As they transition from children to adults, they become disillusioned and seem to be utterly lost. Natsuo Kirino captures the essence of teenage angst and isolation in this novel--and it's taken to a terrifying extreme. The girls communicate with Worm by cell phone and want him to elude the law. They're on his side, and even applaud his actions. His world is exciting and fresh to them--a new world--and he enjoys his elevated status with the girls. These girls are not "bad", but tired of the restraints of society, and confused, forlorn, and isolated--and headed for disaster. I have not read that much crime fiction before, and this is my first taste of Japanese crime fiction. It will not be my last.

For another review of Real World, visit The Reading Life.


Spooky thanks to Carl V. from Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting R.I.P. IV.

ありがとうございました！








Thanks to Meredith from Dolce Bellezza for hosting the Japanese Literature Challenge-3. As I've mentioned before, this challenge has opened up a new world of reading to me.