Reviews with content warning for Death - Out

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Out by Natsuo Kirino

68 reviews

robyncdc's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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pompurin's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

girl...

More detailed review:
The book moves slow in the first third or so, setting the tone of daily monotony in the cast's lives. It's almost a little dragging at points, but it helps to add to the shock of the central point of the book.

However, I find that things get s bit too convoluted around the latter third, as new characters are introduced quickly and connections pop up left and right, and the original narrative of a group of frustrated women trying to hide a crime becomes muddled.

While there are standout moments, and the main plot itself is interesting, I wouldn't recommend this book, mainly for

an extremely graphic rape scene during the climax that drags on in detail over several pages

. It's a shame, really, since

although it does make sense in the story and a certain character's development (and not just something shoved in for shock value, surprisingly), I personally feel there was no need to go into such explicit detail

. The writing is visceral, and engaging, which makes it all the more disturbing to read.

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katiieecat's review

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book was a bit too gruesome for me, but it was very well written. The characters are all awful people which I actually enjoyed. As hard as it was to read the gory bits, I had to know how the story played out.

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jjcantread's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

How do I even begin with this haunting of a book?

Maybe it's because I haven't read too much crime with a lot of graphic gore, but Kirino has me in some sort of terrifyingly beautiful chokehold throughout the whole time I read this.

I will get the faults of this book out of the way first:

It is incredibly slow paced- at least to begin with. Again, perhaps it's because I'm not an avid reader of crime and horror, but this book really takes its time setting up any sort of hook.
Content and spoiler warning:
This book is chockablock full of blood, gore, and sex. And not even in the appealing way; it's just terrifying (but again that may just be a personal thing).
The writing is consistently dull; though it has its special moments, and along with the slow pace, this made it a hard drag to read and get through.
This is sort of an in-between opinion for me personally, but the way new characters were introduced and weaved into the story felt at some times messy and at other times, well thought out. I guess it's a sort of grey area for me in terms of whether it was successful or not.

Apart from this book absolutely terrifying me, it does has some great aspects to it:

It takes an interesting approach to female solidarity and perhaps female freedom and feminism in general. Its themes and discussions of how the (four main) women in this book struggle with their lives and sometimes being chained to their husbands or their family is both harrowing and eye-opening.
- Continuing on, the take on female solidarity through (spoilers)
  murder
  is a dark and yet wonderful approach which shows how extreme situations can bring women together in times of crisis.
Whether I'm just haunted by this book and never want to touch it again or have it in my home, Kirino does a good job of making the reader feel the same sort of suffocation and panic that the main characters feel throughout their journey- especially towards the end.
Last but not least the reason I got this book! The cover. I may have fallen for the trap of a bad book, good cover, but if you've ever seen the Vintage cover for Out, you'll understand why.

Anyways, it was interesting to read a book in a genre I'm not normally into, and I loved some elements to it, but I'm going to get rid of this book as fast as I can- lest it haunt me in my home forever.

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erenreads12's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm not usually a fan of this genre but this was a tense, fast read. Kirino doesn't write likeable characters here, which was a bit of an issue for me as although they're definitely not meant to be liked, I do like having characters I can get behind. I also found the ending of the book a little gratuitous and unsatisfying - the ending was definitely the weakest point here. However, I liked that Kirino wrote multiple real, flawed women, resisting the submissive stereotype that often characterises Asian women in literature. Overall this was an enjoyable read, but a little disappointing.

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sareja's review

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

quando eu falo lovable characters eu quero dizer a masako e só a masako !!!

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johnnytest's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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myrto's review

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dark medium-paced

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

1.5

OMG HOW DO I EVEN RATE THIS

This could had been a solid 5 star read. It was extremely engaging and well-written and i was hooked. It did have some minor issues here and there but i was willing to overlook them and kept gushing to my friends about how much i was enjoying it.
And then the ending happened. And this isn't a case of me just not liking it (I'm actually all for "unlikeable" endings). This was just AWFUL. And suddenly all these minor issues got caught up in it and they could no longer be overlooked. Truly awful

TW: graphic violence/murder and rape
(Srl, if you think rape descriptions could be triggering for you, think twice before picking this book up, it is on-page multiple times, it is a lot and VERY graphic)

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harrownova's review

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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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sarahasyouwish's review

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dark mysterious 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

3.5

This was a solid 4⭐️ book for me until we got to the ending. It all of a sudden took a hard 180 degree shift in a direction that left me shaking my head. Given the themes explored in the rest of the book and the way the particular character had previously behaved, it just did not make sense to me. Overall, I found the look at the underbelly of Tokyo culture to be quite fascinating and most of the characters were interesting to follow. The pacing did seem a bit off around the middle, but I did not find myself bored by this twisty story.

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