BLOGVOICE: OUT Book Review

OUT By: Natuo Kirio

A Book Review by: Junko Yanagi, WRC Intern and Blogger

ISBN：1-4000-7837-7

OUT was awarded the Grand Prix of the Mystery Writers of Japan in 1997-the Asian equivalent of an Edgar award. The story begins when a young mother kills her husband after years of enduring his abuse. She had been working at a lunch-box factory in the suburbs of Tokyo and had confided in her co-worker that she could no longer endure the domestic abuse forced upon her by her husband. She admitted to having killed him out of defense the night before and asks her friend to help her cover up her crime, out of fear that she couldn’t convince a patriarchal judicial system to view the murder as an act of defense. At that time, main character

of this novel, Masako, her co-worker, planned to cut up the body in the bathroom of her house and throw away as garbage—what ensues provides the basis for a story of a surreal quality. Yet, while this story may seem strange or eccentric, but it is also a story of women asserting their power and defending themselves against the violence done unto them. The reason these four women were involved in such violent series of events is because of their own deadlock as women of the working class and their oppression as women in Japan. These women had always been eager to escape the oppression forced upon them in their daily lives and it was their frustration that facilitated their committing such a serious crime.