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Almost Transparent Blue
Almost Transparent Blue is a brutal tale of lost youth in a Japanese port town close to an American military base. Murakami's image-intensive narrative paints a portrait of a group of friends locked in a destructive cycle of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. The novel is all but plotless, but the raw and often violent prose takes us on a rollercoaster ride through reality and ha...more
Paperback, 126 pages
Published
April 11th 2003
by Kodansha
(first published 1976)
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I put the thin fragment of glass, dripping blood, in my pocket, and ran out into the misty road. The doors and windows of the houses were shut, nothing was moving. I thought I'd been swallowed by a huge living thing, that I was turning around and around in its stomach like the hero of some fairy tale.

Almost Transparent Blue
A warning to any potential readers of this book. There is explicit, graphic sex in the first half of this novel. If you are prudish about group sex, alternative sex, or say s...more

Almost Transparent Blue
A warning to any potential readers of this book. There is explicit, graphic sex in the first half of this novel. If you are prudish about group sex, alternative sex, or say s...more
I don’t have much to say about this brief and rather shallow debut, which details the squalid sex-and-drug-fueled existences of a group of young Japanese lowlifes/layabouts in the 1970s, except that it’s lurid, grotesque, delirious, disturbing and oddly compelling. (I say “compelling,” but my readerly propulsion through the book may simply have been my desire to escape from these sordid characters and their dead-end lives as soon as possible). I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone or ever rea...more
John and Seth should not read this book.
right this book is about sex and drugs and it doesn't really have a plot. But I mean if you like books about drugs and really graphic descriptions of violent psedorape are your thing I say go for it. There is also a fun lsd feel to the book if you can get over the other stuff.
right this book is about sex and drugs and it doesn't really have a plot. But I mean if you like books about drugs and really graphic descriptions of violent psedorape are your thing I say go for it. There is also a fun lsd feel to the book if you can get over the other stuff.
It will take a bit of digestion to form a coherent response to this book. The first half was a drag. Violent sex and drug use depicted with skilled, lovely prose, a special focus on body fluids. The only factors that kept me reading were the shortness of the book and the author's skill, because these first sixty pages were deathly boring.
In the second half, something like a story of a dark personal transformation begins to emerge. Free of the blizzard of pills and orgies, the writing focuses on...more
In the second half, something like a story of a dark personal transformation begins to emerge. Free of the blizzard of pills and orgies, the writing focuses on...more
Feb 13, 2012
Patrick McCoy
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
japanese-literature
Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami is a short novel, only 128 pages. But it was also quite a strange novel; the beginning was full of raunchy sex, massive drug taking, and the expulsion of all types of bodily fluids. It doesn't settle down much as a group of Japanese friends take drugs, fight, and deal with existential dread. I guess it caused quite a stir when it was written more than 30 years ago. I think it follows from the tradition of Osamu Dazai, who was another self-destructive writi...more
Published in Japan in 1976, this book turned into a Naked Lunch sort of drug-lit phenom. At times, I felt like the violent sex was a bit overdone and I leaned toward a 3-star rating, but there are enough great sentences and amazing imagery to push it to a 4. Ryu takes a lot of chances here--no sturdy plot, odd moments of melancholy, some repugnant scenes, too many characters--but it comes together more often than not, and I was so intrigued by the end, I went and read all the amazon reviews just...more
The Other Murakami's oeuvre really wavers in quality. Almost Transparent Blue is hopefully the lower limit.
There were tons of digusting sex and drug scenes, and I don't think I'm some stuck up old prune (ok, maybe I do), but lots of it was just uncalled for.
I don't mind if you want to paint a picture of your days in the gutter, that's fine... but if you're going to subject me to little Japanese girls getting dicked bloody by a group of huge (huge) guys, please move the story to a satisfying conc...more
There were tons of digusting sex and drug scenes, and I don't think I'm some stuck up old prune (ok, maybe I do), but lots of it was just uncalled for.
I don't mind if you want to paint a picture of your days in the gutter, that's fine... but if you're going to subject me to little Japanese girls getting dicked bloody by a group of huge (huge) guys, please move the story to a satisfying conc...more
A series of episodes, barely trying to cohere into an overarching plot, detailing a group of Japanese 20-somethings in the 1970's who like to get really fucked up. The whole thing is driven by the characters' apathy and something 2/3 of the way from hedonism to nihilism, and their sporadic half-formed expressions of longing for some way out of this way of life. It's a really interesting premise, and the author does a good job at making a story driven by apathy work, which has got to be a dauntin...more
As soon as I had read the first page, I knew that I had read “Almost Transparent Blue” at least once many years ago. Even though the weighty & lengthy TBR shelf chides me, I read it through on a long train ride. And I am glad I did. I know like and appreciate this more more than I did before.
This is Murakami-san’s first novel written in his youth about even younger youths. Is it autobiographical? I don’t know and don’t recall anyone ever saying so definitively. The main character shares his...more
This is Murakami-san’s first novel written in his youth about even younger youths. Is it autobiographical? I don’t know and don’t recall anyone ever saying so definitively. The main character shares his...more
Time to get stoned! This novel can put you in a catatonic torpor, a drug-induced haze near the point where you are about to overdose and die.
First person narrative, here is someone named Ryu, not yet twenty, with his equally-young male and female buddies. Ryu is telling a story. You hear him, but do not really understand the story being told. The images will distract you and catch your full attention.
First there's this cockroach on some unwashed dishes. Then it is squashed. See the jelly-like su...more
First person narrative, here is someone named Ryu, not yet twenty, with his equally-young male and female buddies. Ryu is telling a story. You hear him, but do not really understand the story being told. The images will distract you and catch your full attention.
First there's this cockroach on some unwashed dishes. Then it is squashed. See the jelly-like su...more
This book is not for the slight of stomach. The first thing that happens? The narrator almost overdoses on heroin... and it goes down from there, but it's delicious all the way. It's one of those things that's so horrible you can't look away. Some of the scenes are very hard to read because it's just so damn painful (rape scenes, beatings, etc), but if you get through those there are some really beautiful ones. There's a great scene where Ryu and Lilly are tripping on mescaline and drive around...more
(Soundtrack for this review)
Do you want to know what I don't give a shit about? This book.
I made it a little more than a quarter through it (35 pages to be exact). I found the writing to be blah (to be fair, I think it is the translation), the type to be a bit too small and the font to be faintly illegible. I dreaded having to go on break and read more of this book, and did internal backflips when I noticed the a new Harpers just went on sale before I went on break and saw there was a new DFW...more
Do you want to know what I don't give a shit about? This book.
I made it a little more than a quarter through it (35 pages to be exact). I found the writing to be blah (to be fair, I think it is the translation), the type to be a bit too small and the font to be faintly illegible. I dreaded having to go on break and read more of this book, and did internal backflips when I noticed the a new Harpers just went on sale before I went on break and saw there was a new DFW...more
i liked Piercing and i loved In the Miso Soup, but i found this book (his first) just mind-numbingly boring. there's one point where the guy (it took me about 80 pages to decide that the narrator was a guy; even the talk of his penis never really convinced me) talks about the movie he'd like to make, which is simply a huge mirror that reflects back the audience... that was about the only moment in the book that seemed to show a little imagination (though let's be honest, not that much). i'm all...more
It's a book that gives me no joy.
And because of it, I've begun to wonder, what kind of reader am I? Why do I read? What is it that I seek in a book?
Almost Transparent Blue is that kind of book.
The set-up obviously is really masterful. We know nothing about the characters. We only get a glimpse of their lives through Ryu's eyes. And then there's the letter. The end. I know it sounds basic, but due to the content, it really can be written in no other way.
If Lust, Caution for me was the movie that...more
And because of it, I've begun to wonder, what kind of reader am I? Why do I read? What is it that I seek in a book?
Almost Transparent Blue is that kind of book.
The set-up obviously is really masterful. We know nothing about the characters. We only get a glimpse of their lives through Ryu's eyes. And then there's the letter. The end. I know it sounds basic, but due to the content, it really can be written in no other way.
If Lust, Caution for me was the movie that...more
This is not a book for those who can't handle a little sex and violence. I believe many people would not be able to face those, drop the book, and therefore miss the beautiful parts of it.
There's no denying that people have stereotypical images of Japan; cherry blossoms and samurai warriors, or super smart men in suites and girls in Hello Kitty goth clothes. This book reflects a reality that maybe no one wants to know; that of the youth on the margin of Japanese society.
There are many characters...more
There's no denying that people have stereotypical images of Japan; cherry blossoms and samurai warriors, or super smart men in suites and girls in Hello Kitty goth clothes. This book reflects a reality that maybe no one wants to know; that of the youth on the margin of Japanese society.
There are many characters...more
Jun 24, 2009
Chloe
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Junkies, Losers and Burnouts
Recommended to Chloe by:
Matt Darnell
Those who know me are well aware that I have an almost visceral love of twisted literature. Books that are the literary equivalent of a car crash; hedonistic revels that fade into subterranean nightmares. In other words, such extreme excess that you can't help but approach them with a mixture of sick curiosity and nearly overwhelming trepidation. For the longest time that has meant the blasted imaginations of my trifecta of favorite authors (Palahniuk, Irvine Welsh and Bret Easton Ellis) and occ...more
I was looking forward to reading this book for a long time. It's out of print in English, so tracking down a copy was a bit of a hassle, as I had a couple Amazon sellers say they were sending it, only to discover it was lost in their shelves. That's too bad, because it's a fascinating and important book, one that people should be able to get their hands on.
This book is about one thing, and one thing only: drug addiction. The characters live and die through heroin and its various cousins, and th...more
This book is about one thing, and one thing only: drug addiction. The characters live and die through heroin and its various cousins, and th...more
The storytelling was indeed ‘violent’, in so many different ways and levels. On one end of the spectrum, the things that were happening within the story were violent. Sex and drugs, even when they are by themselves, are rarely subtle. But when huge quantities of both are mixed together within a single bowl, the result is an overdosage of violence.
But as if that wasn’t enough, even the prose was violent. Just reading the book itself, I felt like I was being pushed and shoved in all directions. So...more
But as if that wasn’t enough, even the prose was violent. Just reading the book itself, I felt like I was being pushed and shoved in all directions. So...more
"You're always trying so hard to see something, just like you're taking notes, like some scholar doing research, right? Or just like a little kid. You really are a little kid, when you're a kid you try to see everything, don't you? Babies look right into the eyes of people they don't know and cry or laugh, but now you just try and look right into people's eyes, you'll go nuts before you know it. Just try it, try looking right into the eyes of people walking past, you'll start feeling funny prett...more
i like books with no, at least to me, 'narrative plot', and that the character's 'lifestyle' of drugs & orgies seemed to present itself without 'glamourizing' it, they were just things that happened to the speaker
i really enjoyed the middle part/'climax' where the speaker and a girl he hangs out with drives out in the middle of a thunderstorm, that scene felt very beautiful, emotionally & visually speaking
this is what Tao Lin said about that scene in his thought catalog essay about this...more
i really enjoyed the middle part/'climax' where the speaker and a girl he hangs out with drives out in the middle of a thunderstorm, that scene felt very beautiful, emotionally & visually speaking
this is what Tao Lin said about that scene in his thought catalog essay about this...more
Am sorry to say that it's not as good as 'In the Miso Soup', although it has its moments. Favourite bits include the opening chapter and the bit where they are at the American air base during the thunder and lightning sequence.
Maybe it's just me, but there were times when it didn't make any sense, but then again this is a 'mood heavy' book, there is not a pronounced plotline, so the narrative sort of echoes the tumultuous lives of decadent Japanese youths. Kind of reminds me of 'Exit A' by Anth...more
Maybe it's just me, but there were times when it didn't make any sense, but then again this is a 'mood heavy' book, there is not a pronounced plotline, so the narrative sort of echoes the tumultuous lives of decadent Japanese youths. Kind of reminds me of 'Exit A' by Anth...more
I didn't like this book at all, it seemed like something a young guy in his early 20s experimenting with drugs and alcohol would write..oh wait, that is what this book is like. Seems like Murakami just wrote about a lot of his own experiences, perhaps if I'd read the book in Japanese I would've enjoyed it more, but the English translation of it was just not for me. Too many parts in the book where you were left wondering, what the heck just happened here. However, I really enjoy a lot of Murakam...more
Feb 12, 2013
Ángel Gilberto
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Ángel Gilberto by:
Edmee Pardo
En la valoración de cada lectura, independiente de su calidad, siempre influirá la apreciación subjetiva del lector, su edad, la vida que lleve y lo que perciba.
Quizá por esas circunstancias, las mías,la novela de Murakami no me gustó. Puede que me desagradara. El libro es duro, protagonizado de manera total por el influjo de las drogas y el sexo. La historia se relata de un modo despersonalizado y brutal, por lo menos a lo que a mí me parece. No hay sentimientos, dolor, compasión, tristeza, es...more
Quizá por esas circunstancias, las mías,la novela de Murakami no me gustó. Puede que me desagradara. El libro es duro, protagonizado de manera total por el influjo de las drogas y el sexo. La historia se relata de un modo despersonalizado y brutal, por lo menos a lo que a mí me parece. No hay sentimientos, dolor, compasión, tristeza, es...more
Verbal Vomit.
That's the term I kept thinking as I read Ryu Murakami's debut novel Almost Transparent Blue; partially because he spent a lot of time describing both the action and the result. But mainly due to the author's relentless spewing of descriptions and actions throughout this plotless novel of junkies in Japan. It is not a pleasant book by any means but there is something very impressive, and chaotic, about the almost psychedelic stream-of-consciousness style. His later works are not lik...more
That's the term I kept thinking as I read Ryu Murakami's debut novel Almost Transparent Blue; partially because he spent a lot of time describing both the action and the result. But mainly due to the author's relentless spewing of descriptions and actions throughout this plotless novel of junkies in Japan. It is not a pleasant book by any means but there is something very impressive, and chaotic, about the almost psychedelic stream-of-consciousness style. His later works are not lik...more
Me resulto muy complicado seguir la historia, si es que en algun momento la hubo. Los nombres japoneses me confundieron y llegue al punto de no saber quienes eran hombres y quienes mujeres. Incluso la narracion en primera persona me hizo pensar por momentos que cambiaba de personaje. Ni hablar de las drogas que consumian, que es la primera vez que las escucho.
El libro esta lleno de lenguaje corriente, y la traduccion espaniola no me ayudo a que me metiera en la piel de los personajes. Deberia ha...more
El libro esta lleno de lenguaje corriente, y la traduccion espaniola no me ayudo a que me metiera en la piel de los personajes. Deberia ha...more
I wasn't a fan of Ryu Murakami's "Almost Transparent Blue," a story about a bunch of junkies in 1970's Japan. It wasn't the graphic sex and rampant drug use that bothered me... I've read plenty of books filled with those activities before. It's that it seemed to be written to simply be provocative without going anywhere. It didn't have a story arc or a plot really... it's all there to shock and amaze.
I am shocked and amazed, actually, that someone thought this needed to be on the list of 1,001 b...more
I am shocked and amazed, actually, that someone thought this needed to be on the list of 1,001 b...more
I was disappointed with Ryu Murakami's Almost Transparent Blue; even my modest expecations were betrayed.
I found much of the storyline too explict, gratuitous and repetitive, with little redeeming value. There were too many characters, doing too much romping and too many lines, which was all too hard to swallow - a jumble of flesh and powder without meaning or taste. But, if you have a penchant for "sex, drugs and rock n roll," you may want to give this a try.
Ryu Murakami was something of a cult...more
I found much of the storyline too explict, gratuitous and repetitive, with little redeeming value. There were too many characters, doing too much romping and too many lines, which was all too hard to swallow - a jumble of flesh and powder without meaning or taste. But, if you have a penchant for "sex, drugs and rock n roll," you may want to give this a try.
Ryu Murakami was something of a cult...more
Someone bought me some Haruki Murakami books as a gift and grabbed this off the shelf by accident. I have to say it was a really dirty coming of age tale centered around some japanese youths in the counter-culture. I think I read the whole thing on a train ride from Michigan City to Chicago so you wouldn't be wasting much of your time by giving it a shot. I came to find out years later that the same author had written the book that the Miike film Audition was based on, which is one of few horror...more
Female News Host #1: On a personal note, that shit was fucked up!
News Co-Host #1: Yeah it was. I literally pissed myself.
Those words may well be from an entirely different medium but they essentially capture the blasé attitude of the characters in Ryu Murakami's debut novel. And on a personal note, that shit really was fucked up!
A plotless look at the lives of a group of friends who have partied way too hard for way too long and are now living a destructive lifestyle but don't really seem to car...more
News Co-Host #1: Yeah it was. I literally pissed myself.
Those words may well be from an entirely different medium but they essentially capture the blasé attitude of the characters in Ryu Murakami's debut novel. And on a personal note, that shit really was fucked up!
A plotless look at the lives of a group of friends who have partied way too hard for way too long and are now living a destructive lifestyle but don't really seem to car...more
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Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is not related to Haruki Murakami or Takashi Murakami.
Murakami's first work, the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student, deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected Japanese youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the newcomer's literature prize in 1976 despite some observers...more
More about Ryū Murakami...
Murakami's first work, the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student, deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected Japanese youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the newcomer's literature prize in 1976 despite some observers...more
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“Yeah, he'd said, maybe it's just my idea, but really it always hurts, the times it don't hurt is when we just forget, we just forget it hurts, you know, it's not just because my belly's all rotten, everybody always hurts. So when it really starts stabbing me, somehow I feel sort of peaceful, like I'm myself again.”
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“And just because I've written this book, don't think I've changed. I'm like I was back then, really.”
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