In the Miso Soup - Tapa dura

"A writer with talent to burn . . . Fellini and Gunter Grass, David Bowie and Dostoevski, Garcia Marquez and Mike Leigh's Naked all come to mind." "Murakami has won some nice press for his unflinching look at violence and the underbelly of modern Japan; there's no doubt that it's deserved. His latest oozes darkness and ambiguity and reads like a cross-Pacific bullet train." -Entertainment Weekly" . . .It is a testament to the strengths of Ryu Murakami's novel that it is ultimately defined not by its explicit depictions of violence and sex but instead by its misfit characters. In this skillful translation by Ralph McCarthy, Kenji is an appealing narrator, observant without being judgmental and nervous without being melodramatic; even the intensely creepy Frank is not entirely unsympathetic . . . Murakami deftly drops into this slim book both fascinating sociological details about the sex industry and often moving philosophical arguments about the forces that shape individual and national identity." -New York Times Book Review "In this stark story by the iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker and novelist, originally published in Japan in 1997, a psychotic American sex tourist hires a young man top shepherd him through Tokyo's seedier side. Surrounded by the brute sexual violence and urban intrigue, the unlikely pair inhabits an eerie world between Asian noir and Pulp Fiction." -Details magazine "In the Miso Soup is by turns comic and shocking-and then, all at once, both-but it is always memorable, and offers a window onto a world few Americans will ever see." -Pages magazine "Murakami exposes the myth behind the exoticism of sex tourism...the 'Great Omiai Pub Massacre' reads like pure Miike [the film Audition] mania . . .perhaps will play well on the big screen one day." -VLS, The Village Voice "RyuMurakami's In the Miso Soup, just released in English translation, presents a postmodern movement in a doomed tango between cultures that simultaneously attract and repel each other . . . Since his debut novel Almost Transparent Blue, brimming with sex and drugs near a US military base, won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1976, Murakami has balanced on the cutting edge of Japanese popular culture. His resume includes rock drumming, political and economic commentary and a stint as a talk-show host, but it is his novels and cult films that shock audiences." -Asia Times Online (www.atimes.com) "A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs. Shocking but gripping." -Kirkus Reviews "A wicked meditation on the worst traits of American and Japanese society, this is a creepy culture clash indeed." -Booklist "Murakami has won some nice press for his unflinching look at violence and the underbelly of modern Japan; there's no doubt that it's deserved. His latest oozes darkness and ambiguity and reads like a cross-Pacific bullet train." -Entertainment Weekly" . . .It is a testament to the strengths of Ryu Murakami's novel that it is ultimately defined not by its explicit depictions of violence and sex but instead by its misfit characters. In this skillful translation by Ralph McCarthy, Kenji is an appealing narrator, observant without being judgmentaland nervous without being melodramatic; even the intensely creepy Frank is not entirely unsympathetic . . . Murakami deftly drops into this slim book both fascinating sociological details about the sex industry and often moving philosophical arguments about the forces that shape individual andnational identity." -New York Times Book Review"In this stark story by the iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker and novelist, originally published in Japan in 1997, a psychotic American sex tourist hires a young man top shepherd him through Tokyo's seedier side. Surrounded by the brute sexual violence and urban intrigue, the unlikely pair inhabitsan eerie world between Asian noir and Pulp Fiction." -Details magazine"In the Miso Soup is by turns comic and shocking-and then, all at once, both-but it is always memorable, and offers a window onto a world few Americans will ever see." -Pages magazine"Murakami exposes the myth behind the exoticism of sex tourism...the 'Great Omiai Pub Massacre' reads like pure Miike [the film Audition] mania . . .perhaps will play well on the big screen oneday."-VLS, The Village Voice"Ryu Murakami's In the Miso Soup, just released in English translation, presents a postmodern movement in a doomed tango between cultures that simultaneously attract and repel each other . . . Since his debut novel Almost Transparent Blue, brimming with sex and drugs near a US military base, won theprestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1976, Murakami has balanced on the cutting edge of Japanese popular culture. His resume includes rock drumming, political and economic commentary and a stint as a talk-show host, but it is his novels and cult films that shock audiences." -Asia Times Online(www.atimes.com)"A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs. Shocking but gripping." -Kirkus Reviews"A wicked meditation on the worst traits of American and Japanese society, this is a creepy culture clash indeed." -Booklist "Murakami has won some nice press for his unflinching look at violence and the underbelly of modern Japan; there's no doubt that it's deserved. His latest oozes darkness and ambiguity and reads like a cross-Pacific bullet train." -Entertainment Weekly " . . .It is a testament to the strengths of Ryu Murakami's novel that it is ultimately defined not by its explicit depictions of violence and sex but instead by its misfit characters. In this skillful translation by Ralph McCarthy, Kenji is an appealing narrator, observant without being judgmental and nervous without being melodramatic; even the intensely creepy Frank is not entirely unsympathetic . . . Murakami deftly drops into this slim book both fascinating sociological details about the sex industry and often moving philosophical arguments about the forces that shape individual and national identity." -New York Times Book Review "In this stark story by the iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker and novelist, originally published in Japan in 1997, a psychotic American sex tourist hires a young man top shepherd him through Tokyo's seedier side. Surrounded by the brute sexual violence and urban intrigue, the unlikely pair inhabits an eerie world between Asian noir and Pulp Fiction." -Details magazine "In the Miso Soup is by turns comic and shocking-and then, all at once, both-but it is always memorable, and offers a window onto a world few Americans will ever see." -Pages magazine "Murakami exposes the myth behind the exoticism of sex tourism...the 'Great Omiai Pub Massacre' reads like pure Miike [the film Audition] mania . . .perhaps will play well on the big screen oneday." -VLS, The Village Voice "Ryu Murakami's In the Miso Soup, just released in English translation, presents a postmodern movement in a doomed tango between cultures that simultaneously attract and repel each other . . . Since his debut novel Almost Transparent Blue, brimming with sex and drugs near a US military base, won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1976, Murakami has balanced on the cutting edge of Japanese popular culture. His resume includes rock drumming, political and economic commentary and a stint as a talk-show host, but it is his novels and cult films that shock audiences." -Asia Times Online (www.atimes.com) "A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs. Shocking but gripping." -Kirkus Reviews "A wicked meditation on the worst traits of American and Japanese society, this is a creepy culture clash indeed." -Booklist "Murakami has won some nice press for his unflinching look at violence and the underbelly of modern Japan; there's no doubt that it's deserved. His latest oozes darkness and ambiguity and reads like a cross-Pacific bullet train." -Entertainment Weekly" . . .It is a testament to the strengths of Ryu Murakami's novel that it is ultimately defined not by its explicit depictions of violence and sex but instead by its misfit characters. In this skillful translation by Ralph McCarthy, Kenji is an appealing narrator, observant without being judgmentaland nervous without being melodramatic; even the intensely creepy Frank is not entirely unsympathetic . . . Murakami deftly drops into this slim book both fascinating sociological details about the sex industry and often moving philosophical arguments about the forces that shape individual andnational identity." -New York Times Book Review"In this stark story by the iconoclastic Japanese filmmaker and novelist, originally published in Japan in 1997, a psychotic American sex tourist hires a young man top shepherd him through Tokyo's seedier side. Surrounded by the brute sexual violence and urban intrigue, the unlikely pair inhabitsan eerie world between Asian noir and Pulp Fiction." -Details magazine"In the Miso Soup is by turns comic and shocking-and then, all at once, both-but it is always memorable, and offers a window onto a world few Americans will ever see." -Pages magazine"Murakami exposes the myth behind the exoticism of sex tourism...the 'Great Omiai Pub Massacre' reads like pure Miike [the film Audition] mania . . .perhaps will play well on the big screen one day."-VLS, The Village Voice"RyuMurakami's In the Miso Soup, just released in English translation, presents a postmodern movement in a doomed tango between cultures that simultaneously attract and repel each other . . . Since his debut novel Almost Transparent Blue, brimming with sex and drugs near a US military base, won theprestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1976, Murakami has balanced on the cutting edge of Japanese popular culture. His resume includes rock drumming, political and economic commentary and a stint as a talk-show host, but it is his novels and cult films that shock audiences." -Asia Times Online(www.atimes.com)"A blistering portrait of contemporary Japan, its nihilism and decadence wrapped up within one of the most savage thrillers since The Silence of the Lambs. Shocking but gripping." -Kirkus Reviews"A wicked meditation on the worst traits of American and Japanese society, this is a creepy culture clash indeed." -Booklist

American tourist Frank hires nightlife guide Kenji for three nights. But his behaviour is so odd that Kenji begins to suspect that his client is the serial killer terrorizing Tokyo. It isn't until the second night that Kenji learns exactly how much he has to fear from this enormous American.