All Intensive Purposes

I recently read Natsuo Kirino's Out, a terrific thriller set in blue-collar Japan. I gather that the author has been fairly successful in Japan, but that this is the only of her books to be available in English -- a pity, if Out is typical of her work. The central characters in Out are four lower-middle-class women who work together on the night shift in a factory, making boxed lunches. All of them are living on the verge of financial disaster, in their own way. I don't think I'm giving away too much if I say that relatively early in the book, they find themselves having to dispose of a body, more of a chore than it would otherwise be given their precarious financial circumstances and the fact that when you live in a Japanese city, it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary without the neighbors watching you.

The book is well written, and well translated -- not that I can tell, but that's the point. If you're grinding your teeth at the spoiler above, rest assured that I've given away very little, and that the plot will keep you turning the pages until the end. I have more than a quibble with the sentiments of one of the major characters at the very end of the book, but I dare not say anything more without giving away far too much. If you've read the book and want to discuss, drop me an e-mail and I'll complain to you separately. Nevertheless, a fine book.