W.
San Francisco
'Garbage' equals irony... heh. — 47 weeks ago
Don’t listen to the older comments; Out is an extremely engaging, dark novel that stands up there with the best crime novels.
Unlike most other crime genre novels, Out does away with a singular, straight-arrow protagonist that seems to know everything with a larger cast of characters, each of whom has their own share of issues. By shifting the focus every few pages, the flow of the story is kept strong, constantly changing and evolving as the plot thickens. At first this may seem a bit redundant, with the characters tending to fret about their everyday lives, but this style soon begins to make the drama all the richer.
Personally, I found the characters well-developed to a point where even the worst characters – the kind you’d want to punch in the face if they really existed – felt human and worthy of sympathy. They each have their own story to tell, and for the most part Kirino gives each of them their due. And although I haven’t read her other novels, Kirino seems to be making some sort of comment on the state of women in contemporary Japan. I may be wrong with this suggestion though, but it seems like it’d fit.
I guess if I had to point out a negative about the book it would be that at some points it felt like it dragged on a bit too long. I’m not usually one to complain about the length of books, but Out probably didn’t need to be as long as it is. Because of the shift in focus there’s a bit of repetition, but that’s off-set by the fact that you get different perspectives.
Overall though, Out is a great, thrilling read. Kirino’s style, to me, is like a combination of Haruki Murakami and Raymond Chandler. It’s moody, dark, hauntingly violent, and will keep you turning pages.
