Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Out by Natsuo Kirino

11 reviews

blazieken's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Xenophobia, Blood, Violence, Murder, and Death

mondovertigo's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Blood, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Gore, Toxic relationship, Rape, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, and Trafficking

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

poubelleboi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

4.75

Beh, che dire. “Le quattro casalinghe di Tokyo” non si fa mettere giù. Mentre non lo leggevo fantasticavo di starlo leggendo e mentre lo leggevo non volevo smettere. Direi che quello che mi ha tenuto attaccato è stata la facilità con cui ci si può rispecchiare nei personaggi principali, le quattro casalinghe. Sono persone tutto sommato regolari con problemi che molti hanno ma all’improvviso vengono risucchiate in una situazione assolutamente straordinaria che mi ha fatto chiedere cosa farei io al loro posto. E poi è anche semplicemente intrattenente.

Il finale… è strano. Non capisco le motivazioni di Masako per aver improvvisamente cambiato opinione e sentimenti su Satake. La mia interpretazione è che si è accorta che entrambi cercavano la libertà e si è sentita vicina a lui per questo. Ma pensavo che la libertà cercata da Masako fosse la libertà di vivere la sua vita lasciandosi alle spalle una famiglia di cui non si sentiva più parte, che mi sembra ben diversa dalla libertà di Satake di possedere e uccidere donne. A meno che Masako non anelasse a una libertà dalla morale, che potrebbe anche essere, considerato che ha preso al volo la prima occasione per fare qualcosa di illegale. Non so, opinioni?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Stalking, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

yungblonde's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Cursing, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

enchantressreads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, and Pedophilia

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

afion's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Rape, Xenophobia, and Torture

Moderate: Sexism

_bxllxe_'s review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Though slow-paced, the payoff was worth the wait. A damn good thriller in my opinion! Far better than most American thrillers I’ve read, at any rate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Gore, Blood, and Stalking

Moderate: Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Dementia, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Excrement

bookwormjazz's review against another edition

dark medium-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

4.0

Let me preface this review by saying that Natsuo Kirino’s Out is not a book for the fainthearted. To sum it up in a single sentence, it’s dark and it’s bleak, and it’s stomach-churningly graphic in places. I’m not much of a thriller reader, but I kept finding myself the object of the cover model’s cold stare whenever I was scrolling through bookstagram or looking at Goodreads, so I decided to give it a go.

One of the things that I liked the most about Out is the fact that it’s not just your run-of-the-mill thriller; it’s also a social commentary. It tears the lid off Japanese society, exposing the mistreatment of the underclass and the misogyny woven into the fabric of everyday life. 

One of the book’s main characters, Masako, starts her working life as an ambitious young woman, but as the years pass, the misogyny running rampant throughout her company rises up around her, forming a cage and trapping her in her entry level position, allowing the men she started at the company with to climb the professional ladder towards better paid roles. When she rightly requests more responsibilities and a wage that reflects her experience and skill, she’s branded as unreasonable and is essentially driven out of the company. Then there’s Kuniko, a young woman drowning in credit card debt. She’s not conventionally attractive and because of this, she’s unable to find a job that will pay her a decent wage. In short, she’s unable to find work in a customer-facing role because employers believe that it’s a woman’s apparent beauty that reels the customers in. In a desperate bid to meet these warped expectations, she applies for credit card after credit card, using the borrowed money to buy expensive clothes and makeup in the hopes that it will all make her ‘pretty’ enough for these jobs.

Some people reading the book might think Kuniko’s situation is exaggerated for the sake of the story, but it isn’t. While living in Japan, I worked for a company that had English schools the length and breadth of the country. One of my colleagues told me about a school she’d worked for where the manager would literally send women home if they dared show up for work without any makeup on. What’s even worse is that the manager was a woman herself.

Out is a novel about these women taking back their power. Their actions are repugnant, but given what they’ve been subjected to, readers will feel oddly empathetic towards them. None of the women are particularly likeable, but they’re relatable to varying degrees. Yayoi kills her husband and while most of us can agree that ending another person’s life is wrong in the majority of circumstances, you can almost understand the frustration and desperation that drives her to commit such an act. 

She’s physically abused by her husband and the icing on the cake is finding out that he’s frittered away the entirety of their hard-earned savings on gambling and hostesses. Yoshie, one of the women who helps dispose of the body, is utterly repulsed at the thought of being an accessory to a crime, but being a single, widowed mother, she’s desperate for the money that’s on offer, money that will quite literally change her life. Readers may well turn up their nose and claim that they wouldn’t do something so grisly, regardless of the money they’re being offered, but does anyone truly know what they would do if they found themselves in a position as desperate and dire as Yoshie’s?

 

For most the book, I felt that it was definitely going to be a five star read, but the ending caught me completely off guard. 

I won’t go into too much detail, but it’s a horrifically drawn out and gratuitous rape and torture scene and I hate, hate, hate how Natsuo Kirino makes the character being subjected to the attack feel a warped empathy towards the perpetrator. 

This single scene has knocked an entire star off my rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism

Minor: Xenophobia

stormwise's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Violence, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Gore

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism

Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, and Adult/minor relationship