In The Miso Soup – Ryu Murakami Review

Recently I have been reading about the most depraved and detestable human beings I have ever come across in fiction and I am loving every minute of it. Douglas Coupland Chuck Palahniuk and Patrick Hamilton, to name a few, have really engaged me to a slightly worrying degree. The characters are unpredictable and unapologetic which keeps me firmly on the edge of my seat.

“Reads like the script notes for American Psycho – The Holiday Abroad”

The Guardian

Even though I think this is an awful quote (Really? American Psycho – The Holiday Abroad? That’s a straight to Netflix sequel if I’ve ever heard one) and on refection doesn’t do give this book enough credit, but It was enough to get the hooks in. That and the stunning cover.

Twenty year-old Kenji is a Japanese “nightlife” guide for foreigners — he navigates “Gaijin” men around the sex clubs and hostess bars of Tokyo. He receives a phone call from an American named Frank, who seeks three nights of his services. While Kenji has promised to spend more time with his girlfriend, sixteen year-old Jun, the money is too good to pass up. Though she does not really figure in the proceedings and Murakami seems more interested in the relationship that develops between Kenji and Frank, a warped form of friendship, fueled by fear but also by fascination. He finds himself closing out the end of the year accompanying Frank around Shinjuku, wondering if his strange, plastic-skinned patron could be responsible for the gruesome events recently reported in the news.

Its a fascinating book. The relationship between the two of them, twists and turns through out but its Frank that really makes this novel stand out. His mental regression from wealthy business man to bumbling child is astonishing and the constant tease of him falling off the cliff, whether its in Kenji’s mind or physically acted, increases the tension between the two.

When this finally happens and Franks identity becomes clear, around the middle of the novel, The tense relationship changes once again in a scene of sickening violence that is both compelling and repulsive. It is relatively short but shocking never the less, and it is impossible to finish the rest without a heightened level of anxiety.

In The Miso Soup is short be very sweet and putting the possible political stance to one side, it’s a thoughtful novel about what its like to be lonely or have a lack of identity. Its modern Noir at its best and somehow, through all the darkness and ambiguity you still come away hopeful for all involved

Give it a try and let me know what you think in the comments or on twitter @europaoutlaw