Out is a dark book. Noir is what they call it, but really it is just dark and disturbing.  It is a story-a tragedy, about a group of Japanese women who are trapped in their lives; trapped because they are women, trapped because of their circumstances, and trapped because they have no choices.  They all became friends because they work the night shift at a bento factory in the outskirts of Tokyo.  One of the women, Yayoi, is married to a brute of a man and in a burst of courage and anger she kills him before he can beat her one more time and then seeks the help of her friends to figure out what to do with the body.  One of the women, Masako, rises to the occasion as if she was born to it.  She is cool, and logical, and leads the others in helping to cover up the crime, giving Yayoi the means to move on.  But disposing of the body is just the beginning, and as the other women begin to make critical mistakes and selfish choices, Masako has to confront a police investigation and the violent criminal underbelly of Japan as she tries to extricate herself and the others from suspicion.

Written in 1997 and translated in 2003 this prize winning book opened up the lives of Japanese women in a way that had never been done before.  Kirino uses the voices of these characters to let us see women’s lives in Japanese society with a directness and clarity that is astonishing and  heartbreaking.  The lack of choices and the limits that being a wife, mother and caretaker of the elderly places on these characters, means that their lives are full of despair and hopelessness.  The darkness that permeates this book begins from that despair and hopelessness, and we are never quite able to shake it.  Although not written particularly as a feminist manifesto, this book is a long drawn out cry for help and begs us to understand the quiet desperation that many Japanese women experience in their day to day lives.

I grew up in Japan so I am often drawn to works by Japanese authors.  But because I know Japanese I am also pretty picky about the translations I read.  Translation is tricky since something that can sound profound in Japanese can sound simplistic and pedantic in English.  Which is why Out by Kirino is such a joy to read. Snyder’s translation hits the mark on every level-he gets the nuance, he gets the darkness that permeates this book without it becoming sappy.  The edginess, the courage, and the vulnerability all shine through.

Brenda’s Rating: ***** (Five Stars out of Five)

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian and Lauren.

Book Study Worthy? Yes, but it is a very disturbing and challenging book!

Read in book form.