num_pages: 359
description: With volcanic urgency, Kirino's story erupts onto the page with a searing heat, flowing like lava to a remarkable finish. Facing the daily burdens of slavish work conditions, stale marriages, and a society refusing to show them a proper respect, the women on the nightshift at a suburban Tokyo factory are all looking for one thing -- a way out. When pretty young Yayoi takes a beating from her deadbeat husband, her coworkers do little more than help their friend keep pace with the line. But a new kind of sisterhood emerges when Yayoi requires assistance in disposing of her dead husband's body.Masako Katori emerges as a tenaciously determined leader in the dangerous cover-up, and with the others, provides readers with a disturbing vision of the lengths a human mind will travel in its quest for freedom. For Kirino's women aren't ruthless murderers; they're hardworking housewives with dignity, desperate for respect. Discover rarely selects a mystery novel for our literary distinction, but unlike more formulaic crime novels, Kirino's work travels outside the boundaries of category fiction and gets under the skin. It's rare when a novel is so well rendered, so reaching in scope, and so thematically relevant that it surpasses its genre and demands a wider readership. Out does that and more.(Fall 2003 Selection)
language: English
title: Out
titlecomplete: Out
characters: Kuniko, Masako, Yayoi, Yoshie
genres: Fiction, Asia, Mystery, Thriller, Japan, Horror, Mystery Thriller, Japanese Literature, Asian Literature, Crime
ratings_count: 37209
places: Japan, Tokyo
awards: awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Naoki Prize 直木三十五賞, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Edgar Award
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Mystery Writers of Japan Award (日本推理作家協会賞)
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: このミステリーがすごい！
category: Best Japanese Mystery Novel of the Year
publisher: Kodansha USA