In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami
SnakAuthor Theme Reads
Bliv bruger af LibraryThing, hvis du vil skrive et indlæg
Dette emne er markeret som "i hvile"—det seneste indlæg er mere end 90 dage gammel. Du kan vække emnet til live ved at poste et indlæg.
1StevenTX
My review of In the Miso Soup is on the book page and my Club Read thread, so I won't repeat it here. Instead these are just some additional random thoughts and comparisons... (non-spoiler)
In the Miso Soup is a serious novel in the vein of Almost Transparent Blue and Coin Locker Babies. But it shared with almost all of his novels the themes of characters being emotionally damaged in childhood and acting out their anguish with obsessive or violent behavior as adults. It is also a bleak portrayal of Japanese society in general.
The repeated mention of spirituality, Christianity, and even one reference to Portuguese missionaries suggested that Murakami may have been seeking to relate his writing to that of Shusaku Endo.
Frank, the psychopathic monster in this novel, reminds me of two unforgettable characters who may have influenced Murakami as well: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and Judge Holden in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
The influence of American films is also quite apparent, and the novel in general seems to have been written for an American readership as much as for a Japanese audience.
It came as a surprise to me that prostitution in Japan was, if not entirely legal, as openly practiced as depicted in the novel. In one scene streetwalkers solicit clients in front of a police station.
In the Miso Soup is a serious novel in the vein of Almost Transparent Blue and Coin Locker Babies. But it shared with almost all of his novels the themes of characters being emotionally damaged in childhood and acting out their anguish with obsessive or violent behavior as adults. It is also a bleak portrayal of Japanese society in general.
The repeated mention of spirituality, Christianity, and even one reference to Portuguese missionaries suggested that Murakami may have been seeking to relate his writing to that of Shusaku Endo.
Frank, the psychopathic monster in this novel, reminds me of two unforgettable characters who may have influenced Murakami as well: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and Judge Holden in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.
The influence of American films is also quite apparent, and the novel in general seems to have been written for an American readership as much as for a Japanese audience.
It came as a surprise to me that prostitution in Japan was, if not entirely legal, as openly practiced as depicted in the novel. In one scene streetwalkers solicit clients in front of a police station.
