Reviews

this is one of the best books I’ve read - the writer keeps you hooked with the main plot plus multiple sub plots there’s never really a dull moment while reading and it was like i just didn’t want to put the book down it’s truly an amazing piece of work!

Content Warnings

kass32's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

Content Warnings

astaa's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

neolx's review against another edition

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I was initially really drawn into this by its unique, detailed, multi-POV story, and by the bleak, spare, realist tone and narrative. I loved the premise and the setting and the characters, the slow burn reveal of feminist themes through the depiction of the hardships of these Japanese women's lives at home, at work, in society at large, without shying away from showing their flaws, rage, and hopelessness.

However, I really struggled with how much of a slog this story was after the inciting incident. It was repetitive, overly descriptive, and gradually added more and more POV characters (and their back stories), which diluted the tension and drive of the plot and made it hard for me to differentiate between situations and character histories I'd read chapters before. I would say this is definitely more thriller than mystery, as you know who did the murder, but the plot crawls along like a reflective literary novel, with the exciting plot points happening off page and being recounted to characters after the fact. I really wanted to like this, but for these reasons I had to DNF it (and skimming ahead, I was glad because I did not need to read the on page things that happened later in the story).

Despite all of this, I do appreciate how important this book must have been having been published in 1990s Japan in a society where women were quite oppressed, and I hope things have improved. I would say that "Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata would be a great companion novel to this, as it also explores the theme of women's expected roles in Japanese society (in marriage and in the workplace), in which the main character shuns the life of a wife and mother to pursue her passion. In contrast, the main characters of "Out" are all housewives who married, as was expected of them, but ended up with failed marriages living in near poverty with very unhappy family lives and unsatisfactory careers.

jalapenyokai's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If In Cold Blood had a baby with Sharp Objects this book would be the child. Covers common theme of loneliness in Japanese literature from the perspective of gender relations and comes out covered in viscera.

Content Warnings

yuei2222's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

caitikyle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

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