OUT. A paperback book written by Natsuo Kirino, published by Vintage

Essential Stats

Pages: 388
Published: Thursday 2nd September 2004
Dimensions: 20cm tall, 13cm wide, 4cm thick
Weight: 422 grams
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ISBN: 0099472287
RRP: ~~£7.99~~
Availability at Amazon UK:
- 28 new books from £4.00
- 24 used books from £1.58

Out Cover

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Reviews

If you want to feel the undercurrent beneath the glossy images of Tokyo then this is the book for you. A dark story but one which reveals some of the misery that married women often go through without complaint. The novel is artfully translated and cleverly constructed. The story is frightening and violent but the characters actions are believable which makes the plot even more convincing. Don't put it down, I read it within four evenings. Fantastic book. Sadly, the film by the same name falls far short of the book.

Im reading Out at the moment, i have been dragged in by the characters.
It maintains great narrative twists and power, i really like the style..Superb

Set in a bleak urban landscape peopled by loansharks and yakuza, deranged men, and lonely, impoverished women, this novel full of desperation, greed and hatred, and without much description, had to be brilliantly written to stand a chance. And I loved it. Utterly gripped, from start to finish. (Some of the credit's due to the translator, who did a brilliant job: it reads throughout like an original text.)

It's a psychologically powerful work, the product of a sharp intelligence, and bitterness fuelled by the lot of Japanese women. Cleverly plotted, it manages with ease the complex web of interconnections between the characters. At times you have to turn a blind eye to the unlikeliness of it (would Masako really be so confident that neither son nor husband would come home early to find her cutting up a corpse in the bathroom?!), and yet it generally convinced me. The pitch-black humour won't be to everyone's taste, but it helps to make this dark and disturbing novel more approachable. Nothing is superfluous, and Kirino is excellent at cranking up the tension: the final third is as suspenseful as anything I've ever read, and the climax is electrifying. I've never read anything quite like it. I've a feeling, though, that it's one of those rare masterpieces that is best read just once.

Not for the faint-hearted, or those who cannot imagine finding a plot centred on human dismemberment remotely enjoyable!

Out is a really good read. I picked it up on a special offer and didn't get around to reading it for quite a while, but once I did I was hooked. Natsuo Kirino has a real knack for making you turn the page. I'd be interested to see more books by this author.

If you enjoy japanese fiction or crime novels you'll enjoy this. It has a very good plot and good characters. Don't be put off by the names, you get used to them surprisingly quickly. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but thought the ending was a bit weak.

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