Out

by Natsuo Kirino

This is my first read for this Challenge and apparently it is quite popular! As the other reviews have explained, this story opens with four women working the night shift in a factory making boxed lunches. When one of them murders her abusive husband the others assist with the disposal of the body. In typical noir fashion, things go from bad to worse as these four desperate and broken women try to cope with the police investigation, a loan shark and another murderer. I don’t normally read crime fiction but I generally like dark stories and boy is this dark, sadistic, brutal and shocking. Although I enjoyed it, it is not for the faint of heart.

I thought it was very well written (and translated) and that the author really captured both her characters and settings very well. It really transported me to the outskirts of Tokyo to the lunch box factory, the night club or the characters' homes. Even though not a single one of the characters is likeable and all have committed despicable acts they were so incredibly real that I cared about them and wanted to find out what happened in their story. You could really feel the desperation that each of these characters experienced. There is certainly an undercurrent of gender conflict in the novel but it never becomes preachy or obtrusive.

The only criticism I have is that the ending was a little odd. The ultimate showdown is told twice from two different perspectives. Although it was interesting to get the two perspectives of the same battle, I think this could have been achieved a little more artfully without a complete second retelling which I felt disrupted the flow of the story. I would also warn that the ending was incredibly brutal and disturbing and I can think of many friends that would not be comfortable reading it.

What Utensil Are You?

You Are Chopsticks

People see you as exotic, unusual, and even a bit intimidating. You are a difficult person to figure out. In truth, you try to live a very simple life. But most people are too frenzied to recognize the beauty of your simplicity.

What Utensil Are You?

Not a post on Japanese literature, I understand.

But, it is no wonder that I am the host of this challenge, being classified as a set of chopsticks for goodness' sake.

What utensil are you?

A Geisha's Journey

My second choice for the Japanese reading challenge - I was drawn to the lovely cover and the fact that the book itself is peppered with essays and multiple photos and illustrations.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Komomo was a 12-year-old school girl living with her expat parents in China when she stumbled over a web site run by a former geisha. Three years later, she left home to enter the exclusive world of a geisha in training. In 2006, she fulfilled her dream and became the Geisha Komomo.

This is the first book to follow photographically over a number of years the life of a young woman from normal teenager to the rarified world of the Kyoto geiko, as geisha are called in that city.

This is a very visual book, largely photographs with extended captions and a few longer essays. Over 130 photographs will illustrate her growth, from her pre-Kyoto days in Beijing onward. A few of the photographs have been published in the English-language edition of Katei Gaho (which turned out to be the magazine's largest selling issue), but most have them have been seen nowhere else.

I'm going to start delving into this tonight in bed.

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Just when you think it can't get any worse ... it does. This novel is a great example of noir literature. It has the usual noir elements of darkness, despair, hopelessness and betrayal. Layered on top of this noir novel is a very black comedy of gender warfare.

A young mother, living in the Tokyo suburbs and working the night shift at a boxed lunch factory, wants out of her miserable marriage to a philandering and abusive husband. Her solution? Strangle him. Unfortunately, this solution creates a new problem ... a dead body that needs to disappear. Fortunately, this young mother has empathetic lady friends who are equally desperate to get "out" of their own miserable circumstances and are therefore willing to help dispose of the body.

Unfortunately for these ladies, they find that the nightmare has just begun and this one act has pulled them into the "violent underbelly of Japanese society." In usual noir-ish fashion, all does not end well and no solutions are offered to resolve the hostilities between the sexes.

This is not my favorite type of reading, but I thought the story was well done and was an excellent example of noir and black comedy. The translation, by Stephen Snyder, seemed extraordinarily good to me; I never once thought about the fact that I was reading the book in translation.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara

Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara

I picked up this book to read thanks to Madeleine's review previously, and I'm glad I did.

Snakes and Earrings, although a short novel (the authors first), has become a Japanese cult classic.
The story follows a young girl who has left home and her exploration of pain and pleasure through body modifications and violent sexual activities.
At times painful to read, at times beautiful. This is definitely one to read for an glimpse of modern Japanese alternative culture.
Recommended.

This is my third book read for the challenge...so technically I'm finished.
However, I still have a number of books I'd like to read on my list, so will keep on reading....!
Currently reading Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology by Hiroaki Sato. A collection of poems by women from the earliest folk songs to modern poets. Will review when read more of the poems.

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Out by Natsuo Kirino

I loved this book.

It's the story of four women who work in the suburbs of Tokyo on the night shift at a boxed lunch factory. They all have different backgrounds and stories, but they are all discontented with life...and all need to get 'out'.
Inevitably one of them snaps and strangles her abusive husband. The others then slowly become involved in disposing of the body...dismembering it and disposing of it in garbage bags around the city...
As the police investigate, suspicion falls on a local nightclub owner with a dark murderous past of his own. Released from jail he seeks revenge on the women he suspects of commiting the crime...

This book is not only gruesome and terrifying in places, but is also poignant and heartbreaking.
The lives of these women, trapped by circumstance and convention, is moving.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Grenadine for reviewing Grotesque ...as a result I ordered Out from the library and I'm waiting for Grotesque.

Strangers and When the Emperor was Divine

I finished my first two books for the challenge: Strangers by Taichi Yamada and When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka.

I don't think I could have loved When the Emperor was Divine any more. It tells the story of a nameless Japanese-American family that is sent to an internment camp during World War II, and it's a sad, subtle and very moving book. The writing is absolutely perfect. Julie Otsuka managed to convey powerful emotions while remaining gentle and restrained. You can read my full review here.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Strangers. A ghost story set in modern Tokyo, Strangers is very haunting and atmospheric. I loved it until the last few chapters, but I was somewhat taken aback by the twist at the end. My review can be found here.