Murakami #3

A while back I blogged about The Noodle Maker book. I'm still reading the novel, but as is often the case, I got hijacked by another book! I got sucked into a paperback review version of Ryu Murakami's In the Miso Soup and finished it in three nights.

We ran an interview with the author a couple issues ago, and he talked about not being an otaku and how he is a regular guy who likes to go boating. You wouldn't know it from this book, which delves into the creepy worlds of the Japanese sex trade, gaijin, and serial killers. You'd think he's a freak.

The book is a real page-turner. It reminds me of Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke), but without the dark humor. It's pure psychological terror with some scenes of shocking violence, and I was totally gripped by Murakami's observations on the underbelly of Shibuya, society, and humanity in general.

I don't want to cheapen the book's value as literature, but the batting cage scene, pick-up bar slaughter, and other passages would make for incredible cinema.

Okay, back to the Chinese novel about the life of a novelist and his blood donor friend. How quaint.