Ryu Murakami -In the Miso Soup
Penguin
March 28, 2006

This story serves as a window into how the Japanese view American tourists, to a point. Not many tourists of any nationality are multi personality sereal killers, but all tourists to foreign countries are complete outsiders who don't quite know how to fit in and can look foolish when they do.

Frank is an overweight, outcast American trying to have a good time in Japan's sex district. Kenji is his unfortunately guide, the one who takes him from place to place, letting him know where the best clubs are for him to get some play. Shortly after their first meeting, Kenji realizes that something is not right about his new client. His eyes can turn cold in an instant, and he has more tales than a zoo. Kenji suspects him of being the guy who murdered and mutalated a young girl, but he has no proof. Kenji gets his proof in one of the most gruesome and graphic prose I have ever read.

Without giving away too much, Ryu Murakami does a great job of making Frank, a brutal killer who could make a person's skin crawl, into a sympathetic character. I really felt for him, no matter how dispicible I thought his actions were (the same thing happened to Kenji). He seemed to have a big heart, something Kenji couldn't escape from, but a heart that is as confused as his lobotomized brain. I generally liked Frank, and Murakami made it hard not to. That, and the flat out chilling and graphic storytelling, are part of the reasons this is such an enjoyable book, a quick read you won't want to put down.

Written by: RF
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