I've read a bunch of books lately. One of them was Out, which
has been discussed a bit here. I just finished it a few days
ago, and will probably be thinking about it for some
time.
This is a big book, a lot more words than many in the crime
fiction genre. It is beautifully produced--I only spotted one
typo, near the end. It even has a nice ribbon sewn into the
binding to use as a bookmark, just like Joy of Cooking and
the Book of Common Prayer. The translation, by Steven Snyder,
was very good--at least the English was excellent. Whether it
said what the Japanese said I don't know.
The characters are well drawn, but ultimately not believable.
I am not enough of a cynic to believe that three unhappy
women would help a fourth get rid of her husband's body.
Well, maybe that, but not the downward spiral from there.
Perhaps I was just disappointed in the way the central
character, Masako, turns out in the end.
The Japan of this book is not the Japan of Sujata Massey
(though I would never accuse her novels of being hardboiled
or noir) or Isaac Adamson, which could be said to have neon
noir qualities. Daily life for the women in the boxed lunch
factory is a terrible grind and doesn't look like it's going
to get any better.
As to the Christian imagery that Miker mentioned, the only
thing I noticed was that Satake plunged his hand in his
victim's wound (on her side), kind of like Thomas
(right?).
Back in 2003, Mark Hall posted this link to an interview with
Natsuo Kirino:
http://www.japanreview.net/interview_Natsuo_Kirino.htm
and this one to a review of Out: http://www.japanreview.net/review_out.htm
Karin
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