 First edition | |
| Author | Natsuo Kirino |
|---|---|
| Translator | Stephen Snyder |
| Language | Japanese |
| Genre | Crime,Social mystery |
| Publisher | Vintage Books |
Publication date | 1997 (Japanese edition) September 30, 2004 (English translation) |
| Publication place | Japan |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 388 pp (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | 0-09-947228-7 |
| OCLC | 56467355 |
Out (アウト) is a 1997 Japanesecrime novel written by Japanese authorNatsuo Kirino and published in English in 2004. The novel won the 51stMystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel. It is Kirino'sfirst novel to be published in the English language. This novel is currently published by Vintage, part ofRandom House, in Britain and has been translated into English by Stephen Snyder. The English translation was nominated for the 2004Edgar Award for Best Novel.
The Japanese film adaptation ofOut, directed byHirayama Hideyuki, was released in 2002 to generally tepid reviews. According toVariety (on-line edition),New Line Cinema has purchased the rights for an American version, to be directed byNakata Hideo (Ring,Ring 2).[1]
The novel tells the tales of four women, working thegraveyard shift at aJapanesebento factory. All four women live hard lives. Masako, the leader of the four women, feels completely alienated from herestranged husband and teenage son. Kuniko, a plump and rather vain girl, has recently been ditched by her boyfriend after the couple were driven into debt, leaving Kuniko to fend off aloan shark. Yoshie is asingle mother and reluctant caretaker of her mother-in-law, who was left partly paralyzed after astroke. Yayoi is a thirty-four-year-old mother of two small boys who she is forced to leave home alone, where they areabused by their drunken,gambling father, Kenji.
When Yayoi returns home one night, Kenji tells her that he has gambled all their savings away in abaccarat game. Yayoi becomes upset and questions Kenji about Anna, a hostess of the club where Kenji gambles, with whom she suspects he's having an affair. Earlier that night the club owner, Satake, ordered Kenji to stopstalking Anna. Kenji became belligerent and started assailing Satake, forcing him to kick Kenji down some stairs in the club. Nonetheless, Kenji, furious after Yayoi mentions Anna, begins hitting her. The following night, Yayoi snaps andstrangles Kenji to death.
Yayoi desperately persuades Masako, with the eventual aid of Yoshie and Kuniko, to help her dispose of Kenji's body. The body isdismembered, secured in many black garbage bags, and hidden all overTokyo. It isn't long before one carelessly hidden bag is discovered, and the police begin to ask questions. As if things weren't bad enough, the women begin toblackmail each other, the loan shark is requiring their services, and Satake, who has lost everything because of their antics, has begun to hunt the women down.
