Out by Japanese author Natsuo Kirino is so perverse, so disturbing, so sexually violent that it’s hard to believe it was written by a woman. But gender assumptions in Japan is precisely the topic (among an array of far more unpleasant issues) that Kirino addresses in her novel.

Masako Katori, a resourceful woman of wit and poise, is only a shell of a woman she once was. After being under appreciated and exploited as an accountant in an office run by men, Katori takes a job at a lunch box factory working unimaginable grueling night shifts. When a coworker at the factory murders her husband, Katori takes charge of disposing the body by cutting it up into pieces and depositing them throughout the city.

But what seems truly heinous in Out are the conditions that influence the women in this novel to live in robotic obligation towards their homes, families and workplaces. They are ignored by their husbands, mistreated by their own children and even dismissed by the police after a brief, cursory investigation into the crime.

Out is a difficult novel to understand. Book reviews printed on the paperback reprint edition claim Out is “pitch-black comedy” though I imagine much of the comedic tone gets lost in translation. While I’m sure many readers (myself included) may find the sexual themes of rape and violence far from funny, there is something tragically comedic about a man and a woman who can only feel love when they loathe each other. Out is a difficult novel to understand and a difficult one to read without a strong stomach but it is definitely worth the try.

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