In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

With a rhino’s ass, I made a commitment. A commitment to you, my loyal reader. I promised changes for better or worse, and with this post, I deliver.

I recently borrowed In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami, who shares the same namesake as Haruki Murakami, one of the most famous modern writers around.

Now, I tried reading one of Haruki Murakami’s books once, and to be honest I was as bewildered as a gay man at the Playboy Mansion. So, I borrowed this book, wondering if both authors share, along with a surname, the same surrealistic, dreamlike style that both enchanted and confused me earlier.

Ok I was lying. I borrowed it because the inside cover said something about the ‘Japanese sex industry’ and ‘serial killer’. To paraphrase a famous movie line, “You had me at hello sex.”

Alright, back to the book. Kenji is a young Japanese man working as a tour guide for foreigners who want to experience the red light districts of Tokyo. He makes a decent wage, has a nice girlfriend, and thinks he has seen his fair share of the typical lonely foreigner looking for a good time. Until he meets his new customer, Frank.

Almost at once, he finds Frank different, and not in a good way. His manners are eccentric and he creeps Kenji out to no end, especially with the gruesome murder of a schoolgirl in the area the day before. Slowly as the night passes, he begins to suspect that Frank and the serial killer on the loose are one and the same…

In The Miso Soup is a well written thriller, and for all its promises of sex, it is strangely devoid of any (I had major issues with that). What it does deliver though, is paranoia and blood. If you are squeamish, best avoid this book as it has one, and only one, violent scene which is equal parts disturbing and funny.

Unlike the typical thriller, it doesn’t paint the killer as an evil monster, but rather a monster that has reasons that are totally alien to normal people. The thing is, although we can’t empathise with him, he genuinely believes in those ideals, so what right do we have to judge?

If you’re looking for a quick, entertaining read, you could do worse.

It still sucks that there was no sex though.