Yulia's review
In the Miso Soup
by Ryu Murakami
Yulia's review
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Yulia's review
rating:
bookshelves:
by-and-of-japan,
criminal-intent
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 number of details, none superfluous or ostentatiously idiosyncratic. Instead, Murakami masterfully presents the subtlety and contradiction even of side characters.
Like most narrators written by authors older than the characters they give voice to, Kenji displays insight beyond his years and a keen awareness of and desire to understand those around him without either judging them or making them come across as “types.” While raising important questions about our cultural assumptions and ...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 number of details, none superfluous or ostentatiously idiosyncratic. Instead, Murakami masterfully presents the subtlety and contradiction even of side characters.
Like most narrators written by authors older than the characters they give voice to, Kenji displays insight beyond his years and a keen awareness of and desire to understand those around him without either judging them or making them come across as “types.” While raising important questions about our cultural assumptions and ...more
