Out, Damned Spot! By: Yuki Allyson Honjo
The story is simple. On a hot summer night, a young wife and
mother, Yayoi Yamamoto, strangles her husband with a belt.
She calls her co-workers at the bento factory to help
cover-up the crime. They slice up his body with sashimi
knives from the kitchen, neatly double bag the remains, and
drop them in trash bins all over Tokyo. Unfortunately for
Yayoi, the remains are discovered. Soon the police, among
others, are on the case.
In the conventional sense, the book is not a mystery: We
already know whodunit. But two key questions arise.
“Will they get away with it?” and “Do we
want them to?”
Natsuo Kirino’s novel Out draws a stark picture of
alienation in suburban middle-class Japan. Since the 1960s,
close to nine out of ten Japanese described themselves as
middle-class in government surveys. Certainly the women of
Kirino’s novel would portray themselves that way, but
she shows the hairline faults in a society that prides itself
on its equity and relative prosperity. Apply a little
pressure and the perfect picture disintegrates.
Rest at
http://www.japanreview.net/review_out.htm
Mark Hall
markhall@gol.com
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