DVDVRSBE: In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

[jaedmc]

In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

Picked by: Unholy Dragon

Read and Reviewed by: SturmCRF

 

My first thought when I saw I’d been allocated this, on account of I’m an idiot, was that it’d be a nice change of pace to read something gentle and enchanting by the Studio Ghibli guy, along with surprise that he had time to write books. Eventually, via a brief flirtation with getting him confused with Haruki Murakami, the Amazon summary put me on the right track to grasping that Ryu Murakami is actually more of a Japanese Bret Easton Ellis, and that this book is a slim but grisly tale of the Tokyo sex industry and acts of hideous, harrowing violence.

 

Fortunately I’m usually well up for a bit of misanthropic nastiness in my literature, and was eager to add to an extensive knowledge of Japan and its people that is mainly comprised of having read Tokyo Vice, watched Letters From Iwo Jima and enjoyed hours of its wrestlers dropping each other on their heads. Thanks to this book, I’ve now gained a level in knowledge of Japanese smut tourism, and improved my understanding of the fact that they’re only wary of gaijin because of concerns that we’re going to chop them up and set them on fire.

 

The ‘American Psycho on holiday in Japan!’ quoteblurb on the front cover is so close to being spot on that it’s pointless not to acknowledge the similarities, and like American Psycho, there’s some worthwhile insight into the human condition to go along with the senseless murdering. The plot is simplicity itself; Kenji is a translator/guide in the Kabukicho red light district in Tokyo, Frank is an endlessly creepy American who enlists his services for a couple of nights and acts in progressively odder ways as news reports of nearby murder victims start to mount up.

 

If I took anything from American Psycho it was a sense of how the one upmanship and callousness of high powered professional life could dehumanise people and turn them into more commodities to use and disassemble as you see fit. Transpose that to a culture where everything’s possibly even more work-driven, where whatever combination of sex and companionship you feel like you’re lacking is just an item on a menu to sate yourself with when you have a spare evening, and you’ve got a perfect companion piece. The themes are the same, the violence is nearly, if not quite as sickening, and the moral insight behind the splatter is more pronounced.

 

Kenji is Frank’s guide to Kabukicho, but he’s also our guide to the mind of a killer, and it’s one of the most convincing I’ve read. Frank, who *SPOILER ALERT* does fatally stab a person or six, explains himself eloquently at times, and although it’s made clear that he’s a compulsive liar, truth does eventually emerge. He tries out most of the canon of serial killer justifications (It’s the only way to feel alive, I was brain damaged as a child, those people were wasting their existence anyway), but the sense of loneliness and melancholy that comes through it all seems real because Kenji identifies with it.

 

If he didn’t see where Frank was coming from on some level, he probably wouldn’t be leeching off of other people’s desperation and misery in the seedy underbelly of the sex industry, dispassionately observing and taking advantage of sleazy businessmen and life worn escorts alike. His riposte ultimately comes down to ‘Yes, these folk are kind of depressing and our society deeply flawed, but setting fire to people’s faces and leaving them in multiple bin bags is just not on’. It’s not an amoral book, but its protagonist seems just as disgusted at the tawdry news shows sensationalising murders as he does at the guy committing them. It’s about a serial killer, but it’s also about a nation, even a world, where most people are too self involved and isolated to see one who’s right under their nose.

 

The translation’s excellent, the writing’s evocative, and while I’d happily have read more than 180 pages, part of the reason it works so well is that it’s concise. I thoroughly enjoyed this and probably never would have read it if not for the reading exchange idea, which is exactly what the whole thing was about. Nine dead eyed, jowly sex predators out of ten!

[Hedges]

This sounds like an interesting read. I haven't delved much into Japanese literature and this seems like a good place to start. Even in movies, I'm limited to Ghost in the Shell and bits and pieces of Ichi the Killer. Good review, man.

[Jingus]

I've occasionally been looking for some English-translated Japanese novels.  I tried Haruki Murakami once, forget exactly which book, and gave up halfway when the tedious plot suddenly took an uncomfortably bizarre turn.  Someday I wouldn't mind taking a crack at The Tale of Genji considering it's the single oldest novel in the world, but it is intimidatingly thick and I have no idea which translations I'd prefer over others.  (...why does this remind me of the time I was supposed to be a masked jobber named Genji-san in a match against Tony Falk?  Got cancelled, sadly.)  And pretty much everything else I've read about Japan has all been written by white guys including Tokyo Vice, which is indeed a pretty fine book.  So this sounds kinda interesting as an insider's literary look at their modern society.  

[EVA]

The translation’s excellent, the writing’s evocative, and while I’d happily have read more than 180 pages, part of the reason it works so well is that it’s concise.

AMERICAN PSYCHO would've been a lot better if it had been closer to 200 pages than 400 pages. Concision is a good thing.

[JRGoldman]

Great write up. You go out of your way to state that you don't think it is necessarily an amoral book. Because of that, do you feel as though any of the major characters are portrayed sympathetically? I'm interested; if it's really 'American Psycho: Super Japan Holiday Fun Time Yeah' like the cover suggests, do we get a very cold account, or are we faced with the dilemma of liking characters who are taking part in or are least complicate in horrendous acts?

[SturmCRF]

Thanks, glad people liked the review. And cheers to the previously anonymous Unholy Dragon for picking this book. I wouldn't say it's a cold account necessarily, because the narrator isn't psychotic, and he's constantly questioning himself about how he reacts to all the slayings. He's selfish and a bit of a parasite, but basically a fairly normal guy who's trying to get out of this ordeal without either himself or his girlfriend getting chopped up, and is a more balanced individual than a lot of the people he comes into contact with. Frank's the only other character we get any depth on, and while he's a terrifying, monstrous human being with no real redeeming features, he gives a good enough account of his whole nihilistic worldview that judging him for what he does seems as futile as judging a rabid animal or a tornado for hurting people.

[The Unholy Dragon]

Awesome. Glad you dug this.I remember reading it and in the last hundred or so pages just feeling sick, because I felt like I was slipping with the protagonist just a bit far over the bend into Frank's headspace and it was a very scary thing. One of the things I find really compelling about it is the fact that it's so subversive...it really makes you feel a connection to Frank even if it's not a positive one, and that makes the ultimate revelations about him slip under the skin that much more than any given horror loon. The ending is pretty much perfect and I love that when shit ratchets up, it doesn't waste any time about it.Very pleased you dug it.(and hey. Anonymous? I've been around. )

[SturmCRF]

I meant anonymous as in your being a mystery book-chooser until Jae posted this, I spend far too many hours of my life on this board not to have recognised you as a regular.

 

And yeah, without going into much detail and ruining it for people thinking of giving this a look, the ending works very well.

[The Unholy Dragon]

...right. That.Whoops.