| NOTA |
(*)(trans. by Stephen Snyder) (★)(Nothing in the sometimes hazy history of Japanese literature prepares us for the stark, tension-filled, plot-driven realism of Natsuo Kirino´s award-winning mystery´OUT´, a work that took the Japanese literary scene by storm and continues to haunt the popular consciousness as a recently released major motion picture. Kirino´s novel tells a story of random violence in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works a night shift making boxed lunches brutally strangles her dead-beat husband and then seeks the help of her co-workers to dispose of the body and cover up her crime. The ringleader of this cover-up, Masako Katori, emerges as the emotional heart of ´OUT´and as one of the shrewdest, most clear-eyed creations in recent fiction. Masako´s own search for a way ´OUT´of the straitjacket of a dead-end life leads her, too, to take drastic action. The complex yet riveting narrative seamlessly combines a convincing glimpse into the grimy world of Japan´s yakuza with a brilliant portrayal of the psychology of a violent crime and the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse between seasoned detectives and a group of determined but inexperienced criminals. Kirino has mastered a ´Thelma and Louise´kind of graveyard humor that illuminates her stunning evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendship that bolsters them in the aftermath. ´OUT´shows its author to be Japan´s finest mystery writer as well as one of the most astute observers of contemporary society, revealing, in the course of its gripping pages, the fears, hopes, and obsessions that drive a complex country. 2.Natsuo Kirino, born in 1951, quickly established a reputation in her own country as one of a rare breed of mystery writer whose work goes well beyond the conventional crime novel. This fact has been demonstrated by her winning not only Japan´s top mystery awards--for´OUT´in 1988--but one of its major literary awards--the Naoki Prize in 1999, for´Soft Cheeks´. Several of her books have also been turned into full-scale movies. The hugely successful´OUT´is the first of her novels to appear in English.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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