In The Miso Soup
by Ryu Murakami
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 459)
Read in January, 2006
In the wasteland of Tokyo’s red light district, Kenji is a passive young Japanese man employed as an erotic tour guide. Frank is an ugly and boisterous American tourist intent on going off the beaten path, so to speak. He’s radiating some disturbing signals, and within a very short time Kenji comes to believe his newest client is not only a compulsive liar but possibly a serial killer.
These two heavily symbolic central characters obviously embody some sort of post-war cultural conflict, ...more
These two heavily symbolic central characters obviously embody some sort of post-war cultural conflict, ...more
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Read in March, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in April, 2006
"As a thriller, Miso Soup contains the genre’s essential elements, but too often broadcasts the developing action to the reader, undermining much of the novel’s suspense. While this flaw may be an artifact of translation from Japanese to English, the more likely cause is that such development is not of primary interest to Murakami (more on which below). Nevertheless, Miso Soup contains an illuminating portrayal of the sex industry and youth culture of Japan, both of which ...more
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Read in February, 2008
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami is on the surface a gritty hard boiled thriller set in the Kabuki-cho red-light district of Tokyo as the approaching New Year leaves near empty except for the human wreckage of the city. Jimji a young illegal sex tourist guide makes a good but shady living from taking westerners around the girlie bars, peep shows, hookers that allow foreigners.
He meets up with Frank who hires him for three days but from the start Jimji feels something is wrong and he starts t...more
He meets up with Frank who hires him for three days but from the start Jimji feels something is wrong and he starts t...more
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Read in January, 2008
Thrilling and terrorizing...
about the paradoks of morality...
Apa yang akan kamu lakukan ketika harus menemani seorang pembunuh berdarah dingin selama tiga malam berturut-turut?
Itulah yang dialami oleh Kenji, seorang pemuda berumur 20 tahun yang bekerja sebagai supir taksi di Kabuki-Cho, daerah yang terkenal dengan kehidupan malamnya. Kenji disewa seorang turis dari Amerika yang memperkenalkan dirinya sebagai Frank.
Tiga hari sebelum Tahun Baru dirasakan sebagai neraka oleh Kenji kare...more
about the paradoks of morality...
Apa yang akan kamu lakukan ketika harus menemani seorang pembunuh berdarah dingin selama tiga malam berturut-turut?
Itulah yang dialami oleh Kenji, seorang pemuda berumur 20 tahun yang bekerja sebagai supir taksi di Kabuki-Cho, daerah yang terkenal dengan kehidupan malamnya. Kenji disewa seorang turis dari Amerika yang memperkenalkan dirinya sebagai Frank.
Tiga hari sebelum Tahun Baru dirasakan sebagai neraka oleh Kenji kare...more
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Read in January, 2006
In the Miso Soup follows the 20-year-old tour guide Kenji in the nights leading up to New Year’s as he shows Japan’s sex district to an American tourist who happens to be a pathological liar and may be responsible for the grisly murder and cutting-up-in-bits of a school-age prostitute (yes, your favorite kind).
Unlike other page turners, In the Miso Soup creates a story that never comes at the cost of character. Murakami has an impressive ability to convey individuals through a select ...more
Unlike other page turners, In the Miso Soup creates a story that never comes at the cost of character. Murakami has an impressive ability to convey individuals through a select ...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Everybody (>18years old)
Hai, apakabar?
Miso soup ini ceritanya berawal dari awal. Maksudnya,
Kenji adalah seorang guider dunia malam alias dunia seks kalo q bilang, di Tokyo. Dia berumur 20 tahun dan punya pacar namanya Jun yang berumur 16 tahun kalo gak salah. Suatu hari, Kenji dapat order dari Mas Frank (betul gak namanya?) yang datang dari Amerika. Dia gendut, tingginya di bawah aq (aq=172cm), dan mukanya kulitnya kayak buatan aja.
Order itu datang pas saat Tokyo dilanda gempa oleh berita ditemukannya mayat...more
Miso soup ini ceritanya berawal dari awal. Maksudnya,
Kenji adalah seorang guider dunia malam alias dunia seks kalo q bilang, di Tokyo. Dia berumur 20 tahun dan punya pacar namanya Jun yang berumur 16 tahun kalo gak salah. Suatu hari, Kenji dapat order dari Mas Frank (betul gak namanya?) yang datang dari Amerika. Dia gendut, tingginya di bawah aq (aq=172cm), dan mukanya kulitnya kayak buatan aja.
Order itu datang pas saat Tokyo dilanda gempa oleh berita ditemukannya mayat...more
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Read in January, 2008
I am interested to see how this one is. I am obsessed with Haruki Murakami. I was at the library and saw this one by Ryu and wondered if the last name was a good omen. I hope it is!
Ok, I just finished this. Creeeeeeeepy! It is an intellient slasher set in the sex industry in Tokyo. This book is NOT for the faint of heart. At all. I love really creepy stuff, but this almost made me puke. The descriptions of the violence were almost too much to take, but the description of the main ch...more
Ok, I just finished this. Creeeeeeeepy! It is an intellient slasher set in the sex industry in Tokyo. This book is NOT for the faint of heart. At all. I love really creepy stuff, but this almost made me puke. The descriptions of the violence were almost too much to take, but the description of the main ch...more
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Read in May, 2008
I've been reading Japanese novels for a while now, but have only recently tried some of their darker offerings.
Sometimes Japanese horror reads as rather cold and distant, like there is something a bit lifeless about the characters before anything bad actually happens to them.
This wasn't the case in this novel, which was a big improvement for me. I felt that the narrator pulled me close throughout and allowed me full access to this thoughts and feelings during the events that unfolded....more
Sometimes Japanese horror reads as rather cold and distant, like there is something a bit lifeless about the characters before anything bad actually happens to them.
This wasn't the case in this novel, which was a big improvement for me. I felt that the narrator pulled me close throughout and allowed me full access to this thoughts and feelings during the events that unfolded....more
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Read in October, 2007
Not quite as good as his book Piercing, but I still found it incredibly difficult to put down. The story is slow at times and there really isn't a big pay off as what would be considered the climax is incredibly tame by my standards. It's more of a character driven piece with some shock and gore thrown in here and there to flesh it out. I think the character of Frank is right up there with Hannibal Lecter in the annals of the psychological thriller.
I'll definitely be reading more of Murakam...more
I'll definitely be reading more of Murakam...more
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I always read in bed until I get sleepy. I was reading this last night and had to stop and pick up The Steep Approach to Garbadale because my sleepiness was turning into queasiness. I don't know that I can handle(or even want to handle) reading a detailed description about someone's face being burned with a lighter. While he is conscious and screaming.
I didn't go into this expecting it to be about kittens and unicorns, but I think I overestimated my stomach for this kind of thing - anymore. A...more
I didn't go into this expecting it to be about kittens and unicorns, but I think I overestimated my stomach for this kind of thing - anymore. A...more
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Read in June, 2008
So scary, creepy-crawly flesh tingling, ickily real scary. I don't know anyone I would recommend this graphic of book to, but if you like, say, Sin City or gory chop 'em up flicks, this might be the book for you.
Be warned, you won't be able to put it down, until you see murders happen behind your eyelids when you aren't even reading .
Excellent.
Be warned, you won't be able to put it down, until you see murders happen behind your eyelids when you aren't even reading .
Excellent.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people interested in the seedier side of Japanese culture
Agh! I lived in Tokyo for 3 years, and I rarely visited Shinjuku (where most of this story is set) - and after reading this book, I'm glad that I didn't spend much time there! Obviously this story is extreme in every way, but it is a very interesting study (by a Japanese author) of modern Japanese society. The issue of loneliness is raised throughout the story, and sadly, it is present everywhere. This story was recommended by my husband (who had read it in Italian), and while I did race through...more
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Discovered Ryu Murakami when watching Takashi Miikes, Audition, based on Murakami's script. That was great film, and In the miso soup was quite an alright read. I read it while living in Japan, and was interesting setting in Kabukicho, the (in)famous sex district, just that felt it was a nice build up of the book but then the ending came so fast. All in all, a decent read, but nothing I would read again. Certainly will read more of him though, and just finished Piercing, which I thought better, ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Sarah Montambo by:
I Want Another pill. Nurse!
I love the title. I can't tell you why because it is revealed at the very end. I love the very end. I want to tell you about it. I want to hand it to you in an envelope sealed with photos of you and me. To do that, though, would be telling you the ending, and what kind of a person would do that?
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8 comments
Read in January, 2005
Hmm...I think there are two types of Ryu books it seems...the overly-gory, over-ly druggie, overly-sex-filled, overly-everything ones, and the overly-gory, over-ly druggie, overly-sex-filled, overly-everything ones that actually have something more in there as well in addition to the gore, drugs, sex, and everything. This I'd say belongs in the former category. Course maybe I just missed the point, but this is my least favorite Ryu book I've read out of 5.
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Ryu Murakami's a one. He'll dish out some sentimental schmaltz like "69" and then he'll bang you between the eyes with "In The Miso Soup".
A Tokyo sex-life guide finds himself in the clutches of Frank (might be his name, might not). Frank is nuts, and we, the reader, are dragged along for the psycho-horror ride of our lives.
Nasty. Recommended.
A Tokyo sex-life guide finds himself in the clutches of Frank (might be his name, might not). Frank is nuts, and we, the reader, are dragged along for the psycho-horror ride of our lives.
Nasty. Recommended.
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
horror fans, japanese lit fans
This is one of the best books I;ve read in a long time. I've never read a Ryu Murakami book before, but his characters, and their perspective on life is really refreshing and riveting. The book manages to be not only chilling at times but also very touching and philosophical. It's hard to put my finger on what makes me like this book so much, but it just really clicked with me. The best I've read all year, easy.
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Read in December, 2005
Of Murakami's book, this one was the most pointless and lurid. The plot basically involves a guy who escorts an American to various Tokyo brothels, where he finds out the American can do really terrible things, and wants his guide to join him. If there was some other point to this book, other than to use a somewhat interesting plot device to write a violent, gross novel, then it was lost in translation.
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Read in February, 2004
A brutal, intelligent novel.
The setting is Tokyo's sex industry, and the tours that westerners can take of this territory. The focus is on the effects of violence - and this novel contains one of the most gruesome violent scenes I have ever read. Yet, it does not seem at all sensationalistic: it serves the story and the characters well. A shocking, yet thoughtful novel.
The setting is Tokyo's sex industry, and the tours that westerners can take of this territory. The focus is on the effects of violence - and this novel contains one of the most gruesome violent scenes I have ever read. Yet, it does not seem at all sensationalistic: it serves the story and the characters well. A shocking, yet thoughtful novel.
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