Reviews with content warning for Self harm - In the Miso Soup

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami

60 reviews

erin2802's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Horrifying and gruesome are good words to use, especially one part in particular. A commentary on the loneliness of regular people and their moral ambiguities. Frank is a terrifying character and the calmness and stoic nature of him makes him all the more creepy. Kenji is no saint either, he did not do the things that Frank did, but he was complicit in his actions. Though after experiencing something so traumatic, I don’t know what anyone would do, I suppose it was a matter or survival? All in all, an interesting book, it did what it set out to do, which is to horrify and intrigue the reader.

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ohsnapsabrina93_'s review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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liamowens24's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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sydneylount's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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heyjudecrochets's review

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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sisa_moyo's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This is Murakami at his most dark and twisted. This is about an American Frank who comes to Japan to tour the red light district through the services of Kenji, the tour guide. But as the night darkens and the 2 walk through the streets of Japan the mood and tone get darker, deadlier and murderous.
I think Murakami excels most in these shorter books. Compared to his longer book Coin locker babies which at times felt like it meandered into tangents a bit, this felt more whittled down and straight to the point.
In the miso soup is well written in my opinion, the descriptions of Frank, of Japanese night life are so vivid you can clearly picture it, and also feel the creeps from Frank. There was wonderful commentary on America vs the other, of Japanese condition, loneliness and poverty that made the book a spectacular read.
I think while the ending was vague and extremely open ended I quite enjoyed it, the lack of concrete, blatant resolution keeps one thinking about the book long after it, about what happened to each character afterward.

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yuuqen's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Of course, I'm not sure there is such a thing as a real self. You could ransack your innards looking for the real you and never find it—slice yourself open and all you'll find is blood and muscle and blood.

Este es mi segundo libro de Ryū Murakami (El primero fue Audition). Se nota que tiene opiniones muy marcadas que no teme mostrar en su escritura. In the Miso Soup es una meditación interesante sobre las cosas que oriente y occidente aman, fetichisan y odian sobre la otra. Si bien el "antagonista" era obvio desde muy temprano en el libro, no por eso lo hizo menos tenso. La paranoia es un estado constante en donde la pregunta no es quién si no cuándo. Y cuando finalmente llega la explosión de violencia (Porque demora en llegar, y ese a mi parecer es su gran defecto), no decepciona.

No sabía que había tantas maneras diferentes de describir un cuello cortado a la mitad. La habilidad de Murakami de describir estos escenarios horripilantes y sangrientos es evidente!

.

Reconozco que, desde un punto de vista cultural, muchas referencias pasaron por sobre mi cabeza. Es muy probable que haya disfrutado mucho más el libro si mi conocimiento sobre la cultura japonesa fuera más extenso. Lo de la sopa de miso por ejemplo, no terminé de entender pero la puse en mi lista de alimentos que tengo que probar :). Creo que ese no era el punto pero bueno.

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