Book #16 "Out - A Novel"
My friend Lisa in Japan sent me a book that I normally wouldn't have picked up as it's a suspense/mystery novel Out- A Nove' by Natsuo Kirino. Well, thank God she did because it was one of the best reads I've had in a long time.
I just finished it last night and am still kind of dazed by it.
The story was totally up my alley. I don't know how gruesome I found it, but it was pretty disturbing....but a disturbing that I kind of liked if that makes any sense. You know, fucked up and dark but in a good way.
What I'm kind of impressed by is how at the end, that last little bit how I could 'get' what Masaku and Sato were feeling. I could understand their need to share in that one final moment with someone. Both of their lives were extremely hollow and empty and in need of some stimulus or some extreme intimacy with someone else.
I'm kind of shocked that I could understand why they would feel like this, and I think that's why I really dig this book. It's written so that you can almost feel what the characters are feeling.
I'd love to recommend this book to everyone, but I think some scenes would be a bit too much for some people. It's a bit similar to if you asked someone which is scarier, clowns or aliens, it would depend on the person which response you would.
Personally, I wish I had never seen 'Silence of the Lambs', or indeed heard anything of it. I put off by the idea of serial killers and cannibalism, for some reason. So the caveat I will offer when I recommend this book is that if you are put off by murder with a side order for rape or by dismemberment - this book is not for you.
If you are game, then Out will offer you some very great cat and mouse games, interiguing dective work (although it seems to end abruptly and I assumed it would come into play again at the end.)and just all around noir genre writing.
Finally, I *believe* this is the first adult Japanese fiction I've read (although I could be wrong) and I have to say it's sparked an interest. I really like the way Kirino describes the everyday life of the four women in the book, which gave me side of Japan that I don't think I've been exposed to before. (I mentioned to Lisa that I also really dig the way she writes about the women dealing with a corpse - after the initial shock, it because just another messy household chore that housewives have to dea with.) So I'll definitely be buying more Kirino books and am really looking forward to reading Norwegin Wood by Haruki Murakami, which is the other book Lisa sent me.
So two thumbs up for 'Out' and for Lisa!
