Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Out by Natsuo Kirino

4 reviews

karly_ackley's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Vomit, Physical abuse, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Violence, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, and Misogyny

celbl8o's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Rape, and Sexual content

harrownova's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Murder, Torture, Stalking, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Gore, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Body horror, Blood, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

unfiltered_fiction's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

1.5

This book provoked a very mixed reaction from me, and I think it's fair to say that I would have reviewed the first half of it in much more favourable terms. It's the second half which I felt lacklustre and gratuitous in many ways.

It's a pacy and energetic read that I moved through quite quickly. I found each of the main characters developed a distinctive personality quite quickly, and so - despite frequent jumps between their perspectives - it was fairly easy to follow each thread of the narrative. However, this is not the kind of book you should reach for unless you're thoroughly prepared for a story with no sense of redemption or relief; each of the characters relentlessly and continuously gets worse as the book progresses.

For the first half of the book, I wasn't sure if I was impressed or horrified by how committed the author is to making each of her characters thoroughly repugnant - there is none of the flair or charisma you might expect from characters in a crime novel. It's very clear that whilst you might sympathise with some of the characters and their motives, you are not intended to fully side with them. I think this works well in the book, and one of its strongest aspects is the critique this allows of both human nature and the social context of the book - the characters are each deeply and clearly affected by their social position. The impacts of sexism, racism, and classism are all key themes, and are generally well explored.

My real problem with this book lies in the Lolita-esque deep dive into the psychopathy of the rapist and murder Satake.

His belief that the women he brutally assaults tortures, rapes, and kills feel pleasure at his actions - and perhaps even love him - is absolutely sickening. As this is a crime novel, this choice could be darkly fitting, if it weren't for the way that the author represents the scene at the crux of the novel from both Satake's perspective and Masako's. The author presents Masako as actually having an empathetic understanding of Satake's psychology even as he was doing the most foul and violent thinks to her, which felt completely unacceptable. The way this scene was represented both times was horrible and completely unnecessary.

Overall, I felt the plot lacked resolution. I did like the very end scene, and felt that the story ended at a suitable point, but there was so much left unresolved

despite a last-minute spate of character deaths.

There were also a fair few plot holes, including

how we never find out who the original "pervert" is that has been preying on the factory workers.

Elements of this book were well done, and most of it feels very skilful. However, it is absolutely not one I'd ever recommend to another reader, on account of how poorly I feel it deals with rape culture, paedophilia, and sexual abuse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence