'Skillfully crafted, the novel reveals the frustrations and pressures that drive these women to … extreme measures,' stated Ron Samul in Library Journal. While it took six years for Out to get published in English, critics followed their Japanese counterparts in appreciating the author. 'The novel tackles disturbing themes: the subjugation of women, domestic abuse and a woman's murder of her husband,' reported Hideko Takayama in Newsweek International. Led by the middle-aged Masako Katori, the women soon find themselves involved a tense game of deceit with the police. The mystery-thriller revolves around four women who work the night shift at a factory and who decide to help one of the women cover up the strangulation of her husband. Out, which won a major Japanese fiction award, was the first novel by Kirino to appear in English. SIDELIGHTS:Īlthough Natsuo Kirino did not begin to write seriously until she was in her forties, the short-story writer and novelist went on to develop a reputation in Japan as an author of unconventional crime stories that not only present a mystery but also offer a critique of Japanese society. Several of the author's novels or stories have been adapted for film, including Tenshi ni misuterareta yoru, 1999 Yawaraka na hou, 2001 Out, 2002 and Tamamoe!, 2007. (With Rod Slemmons) Love Hotels: The Hidden Fantasy Rooms of Japan (essays), photographs by Misty Keasler, Chronicle Books ( San Francisco, CA), 2006.Īlso author of Soft Cheeks, Tenshi ni misuterareta yoru, Yawaraka na hou, and Tamamoe! ADAPTATIONS: Gurotesuku, Bungei Shunju (Japan), 2003, translated by Rebecca Copeland as Grotesque, Alfred A. Out (novel), translated by Stephen Snyder, Kodansha International ( New York, NY), 2003. Kao ni furikakaru ame (title means 'Rain Falling on My Face'), Kodansha (Tokyo, Japan), 1993. AWARDS, HONORS:Įdogawa Ranpo Award, 1993, for Kao ni furikakaru ame Mystery Writers of Japan Award, 1998, and Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination for best novel, Mystery Writers of America, 2004, both for Out Naoki Award, 1999, for Soft Cheeks Isumi Kyoka Literary Award, 2004, for Grotesque Shibata Renzaburo Award, 2005, for Zangyakuki Fujinkoron Literary Award, for Tamamoe! WRITINGS: Has also worked as a movie theater film scheduler and as a magazine editor and writer. Born October 7, 1951, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan daughter of an architect father married, 1975 children: one daughter.

Natsuo kirino