Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - In the Miso Soup

What a book! As others have said, this novel really was quite a challenge to read mainly because of the rather disturbing section in part II. That said, Murakami is wonderful in his ability to create characters with depth and bring to life an eerie, sinister feeling throughout the novel.

What surprised me is how out-of-date my perceptions of Japanese culture really are. My only real baseline for knowledge is what I have seen in the media - bowing, mild-mannered, hard working and homogenous Japanese. Never to make a fuss. Never to complain. Then I get thrown into a world of Japanese characters who are anti-social, angry, self-absorbed, sexually and monetarily driven and U.S obsessed. This is not what I think of when I think of Japanese! And I loved it!

From a character perspective:

I loved Kenji. He is a warm hearted soul who is caught in the role of a erotic night-life guide in a small section of Japan. He has many questions about what type of person does "compensated dating" when they do not need to do so and there is a lot of references to both Japanese culture and how this compares with Western culture. He is often conflicted between wanting to do the "right" thing and never really feeling that Frank is truly "wrong" in his behaviours. I adore this type of character development; bringing together dialectical perspectives rather than having dull, lifeless characters which believe "bad behaviour equals bad person".

Frank is intriguing and I was always wondering what was happening with him. Over time we come to find out a huge amount of detail about his life however this is peppered with lies and/or omissions and one has to wonder if anything he says is true. The portrayal of mental illness is not flattering her; Murakami often makes the link between psychiatric disorders and violence which is completely not the case in "real" life though I will give him credit for the nuance in which he handles the philosophical question of

"is it ever right to kill another person?"

We meet Mako and she is an obnoxious, self-centred teenager who likes to pretend she is of high value and only tolerates high quality things in life. Murakami paints a portrait of this character marvellously and at points I genuinely wanted to punch her in the face! Oh the complete opposite side of the coin ins Jun; Kenji's lovely little girlfriend who acts as his anchor point and confidante when he feels overwhelmed and out of control. I found the relationship endearing.

I can't do a review without tackling THAT scene (in Part II):

This book features one horrifically gruesome scene which draws comparisons to American Psycho by Easton-Ellis. One character gets their throat cut, one gets an ear lopped off and inserted into another character's vagina and there is much neck breaking and graphic detail about burning flesh off a person's face. If this isn't for you then I would still recommend this book but I would skip those few pages and know that essentially there is a lot of murder. For my tastes it was a tad too graphic but people will vary in their limits around this.

In closing I would strongly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in psychological and philosophical questions about the human condition and ethics. If you have a queasy stomach or nervous disposition I would tell people to proceed with caution - you can cut out (no pun intended) the graphic scene which lasts around 5 pages and not miss much. Murakami is a wonderful writer who brings characters to life that you want to know (or avoid!) in everyday life.

Content Warnings

jazrphillips's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

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