Out, Natsuo Kirino (3.0)
This macabre story of murder, cover-up, Japanese mobsters
and terribly sad people is not for the faint of heart or squeamish. While I
found the graphic murder and dismemberment scenes (yes, there are several)
off-putting, the characters were interesting and the plot was gripping. I
particularly enjoyed the depiction of the regular workers of Tokyo, who
consider an office job an enviable one. This was not the Tokyo I had seen or
people I had met on my many visits. The story revolves around 4 women who work
the night shift at a lunch box factory – assembling the familiar rice, pork,
and pickle lunch boxes seen at all corner 7-elevens in Tokyo. Each woman has
her own unique reason for working the night shift. In a private culture, such as found in Japan,
you wouldn’t call these women ‘friends’, but they did form a team in order to
survive their hours in the factory. This teamwork is called upon again when one
of the women kills her husband. The story follows the aftermath as the
characters struggle with what they’ve done, who they’ve gotten involved and
what will happen next. I appreciate that Kirino-san did not take the obvious or
easy way out for the guilty, though the ending was slightly mystifying to me
and I found it took a bit away of my admiration for the writing.
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