In the Tokyo suburbs four women work the graveyard shift at a factory. Burdened with heavy debts, alienated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out of their dead-end lives. a b c d e f g h Nagai, Mariko (2008). "An Interview with Natsuo Kirino". Chattahoochee Review. 28 (1): 98–119.

Idem, "Inside OUT: Space, Gender, and Power in Kirino Natsuo", Japanese Language and Literature 40/2 (2006): 197–217. Natsuo Kirino ( 桐野 夏生, Kirino Natsuo) (born October 7, 1951, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture) is the pen name of Mariko Hashioka, [1] a Japanese novelist and a leading figure in the recent boom of female writers of Japanese detective fiction. [2] Biography [ edit ] Kirino (Real World) wows with her latest novel. On an unnamed small island, two sisters grow up, just a year apart in age. Kamikuu, the eldest, is destined to be the island’s next Oracle, following Continue reading »Gurotesuku (Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 2003); English translation by Rebecca L. Copeland as Grotesque (New York: Knopf, 2007) a b c d Harrison, Sophie (15 April 2007). "Memoirs of a Geisha's Sister". The New York Times . Retrieved 1 November 2013. Joshinki (Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten, 2008); English translation by Rebecca L. Copeland as The Goddess Chronicle (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2013) In spite of writing in stories in the genre, Kirino does not particularly like mysteries. For influential books from her childhood, Kirino cites Two Years' Vacation, The Three Musketeers, and Little Women as favorites. [1] Rebecca L. Copeland, "Woman Uncovered: Pornography and Power in the Detective Fiction of Kirino Natsuo", Japan Forum 16/2 (2004): 249–69.

Mina Qiao, Women in the Maze – Space and Gender in Kirino Natsuo's Writings. Münchner Schriftenreihe Japanforschung. Projekt Verlag. 2019.The Floating Forest (original title: Ukishima no Mori), trans. Jonathan W. Lawless ( Digital Geishas and Talking Frogs: The Best 21st Century Short Stories from Japan, Cheng & Tsui Company, 2011) Four Japanese women - Masako, Yayoi, Yoshie and Kuniko - work the night shift together at a factory making boxed lunches. Yayoi's husband, Yamamoto, is drunk and violent, and obsessed with an escort girl named Anna, who works at a club run by psychopathic gangster Satake. Yamamoto has also lost all the couple's savings playing baccarat at Satake's club. One night Satake beats Yamamoto up and throws him out. When Yamamoto gets home, his wife strangles him with his own belt. She confides in her friends, and they, led by Masako, agree to take Yamamoto's body, cut it up and dispose of it in garbage bags dispersed around Tokyo. The third of this prolific Japanese author's 30 novels to appear in English, this is a cyber-Bildungsroman of playful breadth and uncertain depth. Two mothers abandon their infant boys in the Continue reading » Loneliness often seems to be a theme in her work, as is the idea that materialism and money have corrupted modern Japanese life, especially where family and romantic relationships are concerned. [2] In fact, Out has been interpreted as "a cautionary tale of personal finance" [9] and "a grim portrayal of Japan's underclasses, of its female characters' lives, and of the social, sexual, and economic injustice that they face." [8] verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{