Kenji and his gaijin are not an unlikely duo in the streets of Tokyo's red light district, Kabukicho; at least not at first glance. Kenji has worked as a guide to these gaijins (foreigners) for a couple of years already, helping them navigate through the maze-like alleyways of this dingy neighborhood. What the onlookers do not know is that Kenji is walking on eggshells here. He is watching his back, calculating his every move, because one wrong move from his part will get him killed by the strange looking gaijin walking right next to him. That's right, he is a guide to a serial killer and there is nothing he can do to change it, or get out of this mess, except that he finishes doing what he is supposed to do -- be a guide -- and make sure that whatever he does, he lives to see another day.
This was my first book by Ryu Murakami. My introduction to the author's work was a couple of years ago, through a movie called Audition, which was an adaptation of Ryu Murakami's book by the same name. I loved Audition. It was a psychological, creepy thriller... really weird, and scary... just the way I like them. But it was still a movie, and I had not thought of reading the book, or any other book by this author. Few weeks ago as I was digging through Haruki Murakami books at the library, I found Ryu Murakami quite by accident, and this was the first book I came across. From what I have read by some other reviewers on Goodreads, it seems as though this was one of Ryu Murakami's lesser graphic stories. None the less, the one graphic scene that is in this book left me... wanting more. I have this urge to run to the library right now and find more books by this author.
Does that say much about the book, or the author? Probably does. I'm not, in general, a fan of gore... per se. But somehow I really liked Ryu Murakami's style. At least in this book, he did a great job of building up the tension, building on the characters, and in less than 200 pages, we understood the two central characters very well. In essence, In the Miso Soup is a psychological, crime thriller about a killer and his guide in a foreign land. The story unfolds as the pair navigates through the streets of Tokyo red light district at the wee hours of the night, moving from one pub to the next club, meeting prostitutes and pimps, sometimes killing, and other times simply walking around, talking, telling stories, reflecting on the past and the present.
4 out of 5.
Title: In the Miso Soup (Buy on Amazon)
Author: Ryu Murakami (Translated by Ralph McCarthy)
Publisher: Kodansha International, December 18, 2003.
Format: Hardcover, 180 pages.
Genre: Fiction, Adult, Psychological, Thriller, Crime, Drama
Source: University of Denver Library