Desperation leads one to do strange things; things one would not do under normal circumstances - things one would not even consider. This is the essence of one of the bleakest books I've read this year: Out.
Natsuo Kirino's bestseller follows four women working in a bento-box factory, who turn their lives upside down, as circumstance dictates. Yayoi, in a fit of rage, strangles her husband, who was enamoured by a young hostess, and had wasted away all their savings. On realizing that she'd killed him, she contacts Musoko, one of the other factory workers, and asks for her help in disposing off the body.
Musoko instantaneously decides to help, and picks up the body from Yayoi's place. After work that night, she speaks to Yoshie, and convinces her to lend a hand. Yoshie is reluctant, but, when Musuko promises a monetary reward, she concedes. Financial difficulties, and a teenage daughter plus an old mother-in-law to look after means Yoshie can always do with money!
And finally there's Kuniko, a compulsive spender, who needs money to pay off the interest on her loans. Greedy, materialistic and untrustworthy, it's no surprise that Musoko doens't trust her enough to ask her for help outright. However, when she goes over to Musuko's place, to beg her for a loan, Musoko and Yoshie are in the middle of dismembering the body, and they pull Kuniko in.
After cutting the body into tiny pieces, they put the fragments into garbage bags, and decide to leave it around the city - it would be the easiest way to dispose off the body. The three girls take some of the bags each, while Yayoi plays the role of the worried wife.
When a set of bags are discovered in the park, the police suspect Satake, the psychopathic owner of a club and gambling outfit, as Yayoi's husband had gotten into a fight with him on the very evening he was killed. The girls are under the impression that they have pulled it off, and can get away scot-free...
But, old secrets come to light, and the story follows on into a glimpse of Tokyo vice: loan sharks, illegal gambling clubs, prostitution, and the like.
The book is gory, with grotesque screens described vividly: be it the dismemberment of Yayoi's husband, or a rape scene, where the rapist is stabbing the woman and causing her to bleed to death, while raping her. If you have an overactive imagination, or a sensitive tummy, this book isn't for you!
It's also a glimpse into society in Tokyo: about sexism and racism, work ethics and culture, money and vice. The women are lovelorn, their relationships with their husbands have faded into nothing, and the poverty that binds their hands, leads them to make some shocking decisions. It's not a book about friendship - it's a book about desperation, and the choices made subsequently. The ending is as bizarre as it gets, and it's another bloody gruesome picture.
The suspense in the book is limited to: will they be caught? The crime's committed in the opening chapters, and in my opinion, some of the book dragged on. It's not the best book I've read this year, but I was wolfing it down, eager to know what happened next. Some of the writing fell flat, and I personally thought that the translation wasn't great.
Rating: 3.5